UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1859,  by 

TIIEOPHILUS    PARSON'S, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CMVERSITY  PRESS,  CAMBRIDGE: 
ELECTBOTYPEP   AND    PRINTED    BY   WELCH,    BIOILOW,   ft    CO. 


TO  THE  HONORABLE 

LEMUEL     SHAW, 

CHIEF  JUSTICE   OF   THE   SUPREME   JUDICIAL  COURT 

OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 
\ 

I   DEDICATE 

V 

THIS    SKETCH    OF    THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF  A    PREDECESSOR    IN    THE 

PLACE  HE  HAS  NOW  HELD  FOR  MANY  YEARS;  AND  DURING  ALL  OF 
THEM  HAS  SO  DISCHARGED  ITS  GREAT  DUTIES,  AND  SO  LIVED,  THAT, 
FOR  MANY  YEARS  TO  COME,  THE  JUDICIARY  WILL  BE  STRONGER 

^0  AND  THE  REPUBLIC  THEREFORE  SAFER,  BY  REASON  OF  THE  PRO- 

J  TECTION  AND  SECURITY  HIS  HIGH  OFFICE  DERIVES  FROM  THE  UNI- 

"SQ  VERSAL  REVERENCE  FELT   FOR  HIM   AS  A  JUDGE  AND  AS  A  MAN. 

^J  THEOPHILUS   PARSONS, 

i^s  CAMBRIDGE,  April,  1859. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  MOTIVES  AND  THE  MEANS  OF  THE  AUTHOR  FOR  WRITING 
THIS   MEMOIR,  Page  1. 

CHAPTER    II. 

OF  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  THEOPHILUS  PARSONS,  WITH  A  GENERAL 
SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE. 

Genealogy,  p.  6. — John  Robinson  of  Leyden,  7.  —  Robinson's  Ad- 
dress, 8.  —  Letter  to  Mrs.  Gray,  describing  the  Death  of  Moses 
Parsons,  9.  —  Character  of  Moses  Parsons,  10.  —  Extract  from  his 
Election  Sermon,  12.  —  Susan  Davis,  wife  of  Moses  Parsons,  14.  — 
Violet,  the  Slave,  17.  —  Birth  of  Thcophilus  Parsons,  19.  —  Enters 
Harvard  College,  21.  —  Tudor's  Account  of  him,  21.  —  Teaches  a 
School  at  Falmouth,  23.  —  Admitted  to  Practice,  24.  —  Letter  to 
Theodore  Parsons,  24.  —  Judge  Trowbridge,  27.  —  Marriage,  32. — 
Dr.  Chauncy  and  the  Chauncy  Family,  32.  —  Portraits  of  Parsons, 
35.  — Removal  to  Boston,  35.  —  His  Death,  35. 

CHAPTER    III. 
OF   HIM  AS  A   STATESMAN. 

His  thorough  Conservatism,  p.  36.  —  The  Principles  of  Progress  and 
of  Conservatism,  36. — Letter  of  C.  S.  Daveis,  38.  —  Letter  of 
Theophilus  Parsons  to  John  Waite,  38.  —  Letter  of  Moses  Parsons 
to  Theophilus  Parsons,  42.  —  The  North  and  the  South  :  Differ- 
ence of  Character,  45. —  State  Constitution  of  1778  rejected,  46.— 
Essex  Convention,  47.  —  "  Essex  Result,"  47.  —  Proceedings  of  the 
Essex  Convention,  49.  —  State  Convention  of  1779,  p.  55.  —  Fed- 
eral Convention  of  1787,  p.  57. —  Convention  of  Massachusetts,  in 
1788,  for  the  Adoption  of  the  United  States  Constitution,  58.  —  His- 


vj  CONTENTS. 

tory  of  this  Convention,  and  the  Debates  therein,  59-106.  —  How 
the  Objections  to  the  Constitution  were  removed,  and  its  Adoption 
secured,  65.  —  The  "  Conciliatory  Amendments,"  66.  —  Who  wrote 
them,  70. — Their  Importance,  75. —  Letter  from  Josiah  Quincy, 
77. —  Letter  from  James  Savage,  80. — The  Slavery  Question  in 
the  Convention,  87.  —  Extracts  from  Parsons's  Minutes  of  the  Con- 
vention, 91.  —  Longest  Speech  made  by  him  in  Convention,  96. — 
Anecdote  related  by  William  Gray,  102. —  Union  or  Disunion,  103. 

—  Federalists  and  Jacobins  :  intense  Feeling,  108.  —  Anecdote  of 
Hamilton,  110.  —  "Vox  populi,  vox  Dei,"  111.  —  A  Constitution, 
what  it   is,  113. — Fisher  Ames,   114.  —  Parsons's   Notions   about 
Politics,  and  the  Progress  of  this  Country,  11G.  —  Offers  of  Office, 
121.  —  Letter  of  Timothy  Pickering  to  Theophilus  Parsons,   121. 

—  Replv,   122.  —  Letter  of  David  Sewall  to  Theophilus  Parsons, 
124.  —  Aliens,   his  Opinions   on   the   Treatment  of,    126.  —  Letter 
of  Theophilus   Parsons   to   Nathaniel   Tracy,    128. — Always  and 
thoroughly  a  Federalist,  132. 

CHAPTER    IV. 
OF   HIM   AS   A  LAWYER. 

Study  with  Judge  Trowbridge,  p.  133.  —  Entering  upon  his  Profession, 

134.  —  Marriage,   134.  —  Removal   from   Newburyport   to   Boston, 

135.  —  Farewell  Dinner  to  him,  135.  — Robert  Treat  Paine,  135.  — 
Meeting  Hamilton  in  Hartford,  137.  —  Anecdote  concerning  Proof 
of  Wills,  138.  —  Memory,  139.  —  Knowledge  of  Admiralty  Law, 
141.  —  First  Case  in  which  Chief  Justice  Parker  saw  him,  143. — 
Lowell,  Father  and  Sons,  144.  —  Brevity  of  Parsons's  Arguments, 
145.  —  Whether  Eloquent,  146.  —  Theory  about  Eloquence,  147.  — 
Anecdote  about  Sullivan,  151.  —  Stopped  in  the  Road,  151. — Par- 
sons's Knowledge  of  and  Love  for  Practical  Mechanics,  152.  —  His 
Interest  in  his  Cases,   154.  —  Position  among  the  Lawyers  of  his 
Day,  155. — Letters  from  Samuel  Dexter,  157.  —  Trial  at  Hartford, 
and  Anecdotes   about  it,  158.  —  Hamilton,  160.  —  Murray's  Case, 
160.  —  Controversy   witli    Gardiner,    162.  —  Extract  from   Willis's 
History  of  Portland,  162.  —  Statute  of  Distributions,    16.'J. — Letter 
to  Chief  Justice  Dana,  163.  —  Letters  from  Ezckiel  Whitman,  165  ; 
William   Baylies,    166  ;    Zachariah    Eddy,    169  ;    Oliver   Wendell 
Holmes,   173.  —  Of  Jonathan  Jackson  and  his  Sons,  173-176.— 
Anecdote  of  John  Jay,  174.  —  Letter  from  Charles  P.  Phclps,  176. 
—  Never   accepted  a   Fee  from  a  Widow,  or  from  a  Minister  of 
the  Gospel,  181.  —  Samuel  Dexter,  181. —  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  182. 

—  William  Prcscott,  184.  —  William  Hickling  Prescott,  187. 


CONTENTS.  vU 

CHAPTER    V. 
OF  HIM  AS  A  JUDGE. 

Resignation  of  Chief  Justice  Dana,  p.  192.  —  State  of  the  Dockets, 
193.  —  Appointment  as  Chief  Justice,  194. — Judge  Sedgwick,  194. 

—  Parsons's  Views  of  the  Judicial  Functions,  195.  — Charge  to  the 
Grand  Jury,  201. — President  D wight,  205.  —  Parsons's  Discharge 
of  the  Duties  of  his  Office,  206.  —Anecdote  of  Mr.  Dexter,  207.— 
Of  Mr.  Otis,  208.  —  Of  Mr.  Blake,  208.  —  Of  Mr.  Burgess,  209.  — 
Anger  of  some  of  the  Lawyers,  211.  — Extract  from  a  Letter  from 
Mrs.  Parsons,  211. — Anecdote  of  Fisher  Ames  and  Judge  Paine, 
213.  — Students,  216.  —  Anecdote  of  Elijah  H.  Mills,  217.  —  Special 
Pleading,  218.  — Anecdotes  from  Mr.  Daveis,  222.  —  Extracts  from 
Morison's   Life   of  Judge   Smith,   223.  —  Story  told  at   Governor 
Wentworth's  Table,  223. — Evidence  that  the  People  were  satisfied, 
227.  —  Letter  to  Governor  Strong,  228. — Increase  of  Salary,  230. 

—  Letter  to  Governor  Gore,  230.  —  Second  Increase  of  Salary,  232. 

—  Publication  of  his  Decisions  as    "  Commentaries,"   &c.,  235.  —  • 
Answer  to   Governor  Strong  about  the  Command  of  the  Militia, 
236.  —  Insurance  Law,  237.  —  Real  Law,  237.  —  Judge  Jackson's 
Work,  237. —  Remark  of  William  Pinkney,  238.  —  Law  of  Parents, 
238.  — Law  of  Marriage,  239.  —  Trial  of  Selfridge,  249.—  Human- 
ity as  a  Judge,  258.  —  Paper  on  the  Embargo,  258.  —  Anecdotes 
from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sanger,  259. 

CHAPTER    VI. 
OF  HIM  AS  A   SCHOLAR. 

His  Desire  for  Knowledge,  p.  260.  —  His  Study  of  all  Mechanism,  260. 

—  Rumford's  Cooking  Apparatus,  261.  —  Mistake  of  Names,  261. — 
Library,  263.  —  Manner  of  Reading,  264.  —  Knowledge  of  Greek, 
265.  —  Desire  that  Greek  should  be  learned  before  Latin,  265. — 
Preparing  a  Greek  Grammar,  265.  —  Interest  in  Public  Schools, 
271.  —  Scientific  Pursuits,  272.  —  Accident  with  Woulfe's  Appara- 
tus, 272.  —  Dr.  John  Prince,  273. — Mr.  William  Bond,  274. — 
Knowledge   of  Mathematics,  278.  —  Improvement  in   Process   for 
working  out  Lunar  Observations,  279.  —  Mr.   Airy,  279.  —  Pike's 
Arithmetic,    280.  —  Preference   of  Geometry  to   Analysis,    281. — 
Theory  of  Parallel  Lines,  282.  —  Study  of  History,  282.  —  Novel- 
reading,  282.  —  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  285. — Fellow  of  Har- 
vard College,  286.  —  Election  of  Kirkland,  286.  —  Unitarianism  at 
Harvard   College,  287.  —  Dr.  Kirkland,   288.  —  Overseers  of  the 


viii  CONTENTS. 

College,  291. —  Professor  Peck,  292. — Fellow  of  the  American 
Academy,  293.  — Letters  of  Mr.  Cutler,  293.  — Present  Methods  of 
Study,  297.  —  What  is  Superficialness  1  298.  —  Letters  to  Mr.  and 
to  Mrs.  Wendell  Davis,  305.  —  Dante  :  Italian  Language,  307. 

CHAPTER    VII. 

OF   HIM   iv   HIS  PERSONAL,  SOCIAL,  AXD   FAMILY   RELATIONS  ; 
AND   OF  ins   DEATH. 

Of  Him  as  a  Religious  Man,  p.  308. — Anecdote   illustrative  of  his 
Observance  of  Sunday,  309.  —  Joined  Dr.  Kirkland's  Church,  311. 

—  Extract  from   Mr.  Thacher's    Sermon,  312.  —  Letters   to   Mrs. 
Davis,  315.  —  Of  his  Religious  Opinions,  318.  —  Remark  about  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Holley,  321.  —Dr.  Kirkland,  322.  —Extract  from  a  Let- 
ter of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tappan,  323. —  Dr.  Hopkins,  324.  —  Of  Him  in 
his  Social  and  Family  Relations,  324.  — Love  of  Home,  325.  — Per- 
sonal Appearance,  326.  —  Hypochondria,  329.  —  Sleeplessness,  334. 

—  Extracts  from  Mrs.  Parsons's  Letters,  335.  —  Use  of  Tobacco, 
and  Rclinquishmcnt  of  it,  336.  —  Use  of  Wine,  337.  —  Little  Exer- 
cise, 338.  —  Hubits  of  Study,  338.  —  Letters  to  his  Children,  340. 

—  Dinner  Company,   342.  —  Rev.  Mr.  Thacher,  342.  —  Rev.   Mr. 
Buckminster,  343.  —  Love  of  Animals,  345.  —  Love  of  Teaching, 
348. — Dislike  of  Observation  and  Notoriety,  349. —  Some  Failure 
of  Health,  351.— Use  of  Hot  Water  as  a  Remedy,  352.  —  Death, 
352.  —  Supposed  Cause,  354.  —  Circumstances  attending  his  Death; 
his  Last  Words,  354.  —  Expression  of  his  Face,  355. 


APPENDIX. 

Page 

I.     ESSEX  RESULT 359 

II.     CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARKER'S  ADDRESS   TO   THE  GRAND 

JURY 403 

III.  OUITUARY  NOTICE 425 

IV.  ESSAY  ox  PARALLEL  LINES 429 

V.     FORMULA  FOR  EXTRACTING  THE  ROOTS  OF  ADFECTED 

EQUATIONS 439 

VI.     LETTER  TO  THE  AUTHOR  FROM  JUDGE  WHITE  .         .  446 
VII.     LETTERS    TO    TiiEoriiii.us    PARSONS,    SENIOR,    FROM 

VARIOUS  CORRESPONDENTS                                   .  456 


MEMOIR. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  MOTIVES  AND  THE  MEANS  OF  THE  AUTHOR  FOR 
WRITING  THIS  MEMOIR. 

MY  father  died  in  1813.  If  he  were  wholly  forgotten, 
I  should  not  seek  to  revive  a  recollection  of  him.  But  his 
official  position,  to  which  circumstances  gave  a  peculiar  im- 
portance, required  of  him  to  give  some  decisions  which  laid 
the  foundations  of  important  law.  These  must  be  remem- 
bered and  sometimes  referred  to,  at  least  by  lawyers.  They 
perhaps  are  almost  the  only  men  of  this  generation  who 
know  much  about  him.  For  nearly  all  others  the  veil  of 
time  has  settled  over  him ;  and  if  his  name  be  heard  or 
read,  it  calls  up  no  distinct  image. 

If  this  veil  only  obstructed  or  obscured  the  remembrance 
of  him,  or  if  it  entirely  prevented  this  remembrance,  I 
should  make  no  effort  to  remove  it.  But  while  he  is  re- 
membered at  all,  he  should  be  remembered  aright. 

lie  had  no  love  of  fame,  contemporary  or  posthumous.  It 
will  probably  appear  to  a  reader  of  this  Memoir,  that  it  was 
one  of  his  errors  to  despise  public  opinion  exceedingly. 
He  not  only  cared  nothing  whatever  for  fame,  but  was 
less  desirous  than  he  should  have  been  to  leave  a  just  im- 
pression of  himself.  He  had  not  many  personal  enemies  ; 
but  no  man  can  discharge  the  duties  of  the  high  office  he 
held,  without  conflicting  with  some  interests,  and  exciting 
1 


2  MEMOIR  OF 

some  resentments,  which  perhaps  have  not  yet  died.  And 
his  political  enemies,  for  reasons  which  will  be  more  fully 
stated  hereafter,  were  bitter.  While  he  lived,  they  did 
not  spare  censure  or  reproach,  as  opportunity  offered 
or  could  be  made.  But  I  believe  he  was  never  known 
to  say  or  to  authorize  one  word  by  way  of  answer,  defence, 
or  explanation,  or  to  manifest  anything  but  the  most  per- 
fect indifference.  He  was,  however,  a  just  man,  and  loved 
the  truth ;  and  if  his  disposition  to  protect  the  truth  was 
overcome  by  his  unwillingness  to  defend  himself,  I  know  of 
no  reason,  and  am  conscious  of  no  feeling,  which  should 
prevent  my  attempting  at  least  to  do  him  exact  justice. 

This  is  my  object  in  preparing,  at  this  late  day,  this 
Memoir ;  and,  so  far  as  I  know  my  own  purposes,  it  is  my 
only  object. 

When  he  died,  I  was  but  sixteen  years  old ;  and  had 
little  knowledge,  and  now  have  but  few  trustworthy  rec- 
ollections, of  him  in  his  more  public  relations.  What  he 
was  at  home,  what  as  husband,  father,  friend,  I  knew  and 
remember  better.  In  drawing  his  portrait  in  these  relations, 
I  shall  trust,  with  some  confidence,  to  my  own  impressions  ; 
but  as  to  his  public  duties,  and  for  what  lie  was  as  a  states- 
man, a  lawyer,  a  judge,  a  scholar,  I  shall  rely  mainly 
upon  documentary  or  other  evidence.  And  if  I  have  some 
confidence  in  family  traditions,  and  some  belief  of  facts  or 
anecdotes,  which  cannot  be  proved  but  have  been  repeated 
until  they  can  hardly  be  doubted,  it  will  still  be  with  the 
hope  and  the  endeavor  to  give  to  the  best  evidence  the 
greatest  weight.  I  shall  try  to  avoid  all  assertions  of 
which  it  can  be  said  only  that  they  may  be  true. 

Upon  some  points  I  have  distinct  impressions,  due  in 
part,  I  am  certain,  to  my  own  recollections  of  his  words 
and  acts.  ]>ut  they  are,  due  also  in  part  to  the  many 
conversations  I  have  had,  years  and  years  ago,  with  his 
old  friends,  who  loved  to  talk  of  him  as  much  as  I  loved 
to  hear  them.  I  find  myself  unable  to  distinguish  uccu- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  3 

rately,  at  this  distance  of  time,  between  these  two  elements 
of  belief.  What  seem  to  me  only  my  own  recollections 
may  have  been  strengthened  and  filled  out,  and  perhaps 
shaped  or  varied,  by  such  conversations,  Avithout  my  being 
able  to  recognize  this  effect.  They  who  knew  him  have, 
for  a  long  time,  been  few  in  number  ;  and  now  they  are 
very  few.  If  now  alive,  he  would  be  one  hundred  and 
nine  years  old;  and  of  course  all  who  could  be  called  his 
contemporaries  have  passed  away.  There  are  still  living, 
however,  those  who,  although  much  younger  than  he,  knew 
him  intimately.  Of  late  years  it  has  been  an  infrequent 
pleasure  to  me  to  meet  them.  But  I  have  called  upon 
them  to  aid  me  in  constructing  this  slight  memorial,  and 
they  have  rendered  far  more  assistance  than  I  had  ven- 
tured to  expect. 

I  propose,  in  the  first  place,  to  speak  of  his  parentage 
and  family.  If  I  had  no  other  reason  for  this,  I  should 
do  it  because  it  was  one  of  his  traits  to  be  glad,  and  per- 
haps proud,  of  his  descent  from  one  man  among  our  fore- 
fathers, whom  he  profoundly  revered,  —  John  Robinson 
of  Leyden.  I  shall  speak  also  of  his  childhood  and  youth, 
and  of  the  few  changes  which  occurred  in  his  simple  and 
uniform  life.  Then,  in  other  chapters,  I  shall  endeavor  to 
present  him  to  my  readers  as  he  was,  as  a  statesman,  a 
lawyer,  a  judge,  a  scholar,  a  religious  man  ;  and  in  his 
personal,  social,  and  family  relations. 

Forty  years  ago  I  had  an  immense  mass  of  his  manu- 
scripts. But  then  I  did  not  think  I  should  ever  make  use 
of  them.  Very  many  I  have  given  away  to  those  who 
wished  for  his  autographs  ;  others,  to  those  who  desired 
them  for  other  reasons.  Some,  or  rather  many,  I  have 
lost,  I  know  not  how.  The  residue  —  not  the  tenth  part  of 
what  I  once  had  —  were  saved,  and  now  lie  before  me, 
because  my  friend,  Mr.  Charles  Folsom,  laid  a  hand  of 
gentle  compulsion  upon  them,  some  years  since,  and  carried 
them  off  to  the  Boston  Athenaeum.  It  will  be  seen,  how- 


4  MEMOIR  OF 

ever,  that  even  this  remnant  is  of  much  use  to  me.  And 
I  should  be  very  glad  if  gentlemen  having  any  letters 
or  other  manuscripts  of  my  father's  would  send  them,  or 
copies  of  them,  to  me,  or  lend  them  to  be  copied  ;  or 
would  give  me  any  information  which  I  might  use  to 
correct  errors  in  this  book,  or  add  to  it  interesting  or 
illustrative  facts.  I  should  employ  them  for  the  public 
benefit,  if  this  book  comes  to  a  second  edition ;  or  other- 
wise use  them  for  my  own. 

In  an  Appendix  I  insert  some  of  my  father's  produc- 
tions ;  and  reprint  the  Address  of  Chief  Justice  Parker  (my 
father's  successor)  to  the  Grand  Jury,  in  1813,  in  which  he 
gives  a  sketch  of  his  life  and  character.  This  has  never 
been  published,  excepting  at  the  close  of  the  tenth  volume 
of  the  Massachusetts  Reports.  I  add  to  this  a  brief  Memoir, 
by  Mr.  Samuel  L.  Knapp,  and  one  or  two  of  the  obitua- 
ries published  at  his  death.  These  may  be  regarded  as 
contemporary  testimonials  to  his  position,  and  to  the  extent 
and  quality  of  his  usefulness.  They  are  annexed  to  this 
work,  not  to  revive  the  recollection  of  my  father,  or  extend 
or  diffuse  it,  but  that  I  may  place  on  record  those  means 
of  estimating  him  correctly,  which  —  due  allowance  being 
made  for  my  own  filial  bias,  or  for  my  leaning  too  far  in 
my  endeavor  to  resist  this  bias,  and  for  the  prejudices  or 
predilections  of  other  persons  —  may  cause  him  to  be,  when 
not  forgotten,  not  misjudged. 

I  will  add  a  word  on  another  topic.  No  one  can  be  more 
aware  than  I  am  of  the  egotistic  appearance  imparted  to 
this  Memoir,  and  to  this  prefatory  chapter,  and  to  this  very 
paragraph,  by  the  circumstance  that  I  write  it  in  the  first 
person,  and  speak  of  the  subject  of  it  as  "  my  father."  This 
appearance  must  needs  be  so  offensive,  that  it  would  not  be 
deliberately  encountered  but  for  what  seem  to  be  good  rea- 
sons. One  of  these  is,  that,  as  matter  of  honesty,  I  wish 
my  readers  to  remember  that  I  am  writing  about  my  own 
father,  that  they  may  therefore  make  all  due  allowance. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  5 

Another  is,  that  I  wish  to  remember  this  myself,  that  I  may 
therefore  exercise  due  caution.  Still  another  is,  that  I  was 
obliged  to  choose  between  this  way  of  treating  and  present- 
ing my  subject,  and  that  other  way  which  consists  in  an 
apparent  withdrawal  from  all  personal  interest,  and  Avhich 
is  a  little  apt  to  withdraw  from  the  book  all  interest  what- 
ever. We  have  eminent  American  works  which  repeat  the 
capital  "  I "  to  the  utter  exhaustion  of  the  printer's  stock ; 
and  certainly  this  is  a  great  fault.  We  have  others  which 
totally  avoid  the  use  of  the  first  person  singular,  by  an 
unwearied,  but  somewhat  wearying,  ringing  of  the  changes 
upon  all  the  phrases  and  indirections  which  go  round  and 
round  this  little  word,  and  are  always  in  sight  of  it,  but  do 
not  touch  it.  This  seems  to  me  a  great  fault  also ;  if  for 
nothing  else,  because  it  compels  the  reader  to  remember 
that  he  Avho  is  perpetually  laboring  to  avoid  speaking  of 
himself,  can  never,  by  any  possibility,  forget  himself. 

But  these  are  small  matters.  No  success  in  them  would 
compensate  for  a  failure  in  my  principal  purpose  ;  nor  will 
ill  success  in  them  inflict  great  pain,  if  I  am  permitted  to 
believe  that  this  Memoir  presents  a  lifelike  and  true  por- 
traiture of  my  father  and  his  friends. 


MEMOIR   OF 


CHAPTER    II. 


OF   HIS  ANCESTRY,  WITH  A  GENERAL  SKETCH   OF   HIS 
LIFE. 

NEAR  the  close  of  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, perhaps  about  1G45,  Jeffrey  (or  Geoffrey)  Parsons 
sailed  from  England  for  the  West  Indies.  He  was  then 
very  young.  He  remained  at  Barbadoes,  with  an  uncle, 
some  years,  and  then  came  to  Gloucester,  on  Cape  Ann, 
about  1654.  There  he  settled.  On  the  llth  of  November, 
1G57,  he  married  Sarah  Vinson.  He  passed  the  rest  of  his 
life  in  Gloucester,  and  died  there  on  the  IGth  of  August, 
1G89.  lie  was  a  prominent  citizen,  having  been  chosen 
selectman  for  several  years ;  and  was  a  successful  mer- 
chant, leaving  at  his  death  what  was  there  and  in  those 
days  regarded  as  a  competent  fortune. 

So  much,  and  but  little  more,  is  known  with  certainty  of 
the  origin  of  my  father's  family.  An  ancient  letter  or  two, 
with  a  constant  and  consistent  tradition,  render  probable  a 
few  additional  particulars.  They  are,  that  Jeffrey  (so  the 
name  appears  to  have  been  generally  spelt)  was  a  younger 
member  of  a  family  holding  a  respectable  position  among 
the  gentry  of  Devonshire.  He  must  have  had  means  of  his 
own,  or  been  aided  by  his  family,  because,  although  a  young 
man  when  he  came  to  Gloucester,  he  carried  considerable 
property  there  with  him.  It  is  at  least  certain  that  he 
bought  a  house  and  sonic  lots  of  land,  in  1G.">5. 

There  are  in  the  family  various  versions  of  a  romantic 
story  about  his  meeting  Sarah  Vinson  —  the  beauty  of  the 


5 
CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  7 

place  —  at  a  spring  on  her  father's  farm,  which  is  still  called 
Vinson's  Spring ;  and  sundry  love  passages  ensuing,  which 
ended,  not  without  due  tribulation,  in  their  marriage.  I 
would  tell  this  more  particularly ;  but,  unfortunately,  the 
traditions  do  not  harmonize,  and  no  one  of  them  seems  to 
me  well  authenticated  or  particularly  probable. 

The  genealogy  of  the  family,  from  Jeffrey  down,  has  been 
well  preserved.  And  the  most  noticeable  thing  about  it  is 
the  extraordinary  fertility  of  the  marriages  of  those  early 
days.  This  was  true  not  only  of  our  own  immediate  line, 
but  of  all  those  with  whom  our  ancestors  intermarried. 
And  I  have  heard  the  same  remark  made  of  other  families. 

Moses  Parsons,  Jeffrey's  grandson,  being  the  youngest 
son  of  his  youngest  son,  was  my  father's  father.  He  was 
born  in  Gloucester,  June  20th,  1716.  He  entered  Harvard 
College  in  1732,  graduated  in  due  course  in  1736,  and 
immediately  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  theology,  in  fur- 
ther execution  of  that  purpose  of  devoting  himself  to  the 
ministry  which  had  induced  him  to  enter  college. 

For  some  years,  however,  he  maintained  himself  by 
teaching  a  school  in  Gloucester.  Aiid  there,  on  the  llth  of 
January,  1743,  he  married  Susan  Davis,  to  whom  he  had 
been  for  some  years  betrothed. 

She  was  the  fifth  in  descent  from  John  Robinson  of  Ley- 
den  ;  whose  son  Abraham  had,  in  Gloucester,  a  son  of  the 
same  name.  This  grandson  of  John  had  a  son  Andrew, 
whose  daughter  Anne  married  Abraham  Davis  ;  and  their 
daughter  Susan  was  my  grandmother.* 

*  Some  persons  have  even  doubted  whether  any  son  of  John  Bob- 
inson  came  to  America.  But  I  have  a  document  drawn  up  by  my 
father  about  eighty  years  ago,  and  another  which  some  years  after- 
wards he  gave  a  relative  (from  whom  I  have  it),  which  agrees  per- 
fectly with  the  first,  from  which  I  gather  the  facts  that  I  have  stated 
in  this  paragraph.  He  was  a  careful  genealogist,  and  loved  to  investi- 
gate questions  of  this  kind  ;  and  in  this  particular  question  he  felt 
a  deep  interest.  And  he  had  all  the  means  of  information  which  a 


8  MEMOIR  OF 

John  Kobinson  of  Leyden !  How  often  have  I  heard  my 
father  utter  that  name,  and  always  with  every  expression  of 
admiration  and  reverence !  I  suppose  he  thought  that  this 
ancestor  of  his  had  done  more  to  form  the  character  of  New 
England,  hy  his  direct  influence,  and  by  impressing  his 
character  upon  those  whom  he  sent  forth  to  found  a  nation, 
than  any  other  man.  I  cannot  remember  when  I  first 
became  familiar  with  the  beautiful  address  of  Robinson  to 
that  portion  of  his  church  who  were  about  to  depart  from 
him  and  seek  a  wilderness,  which,  in  compensation  for  the 
enjoyments  that  civilization  could  give,  offered  them  only 
freedom  to  worship  God.  After  the  tenderest  words  of 
farewell  and  the  wisest  words  of  counsel,  he  said : 

"  Brethren,  we  are  now  quickly  to  part  from  one 
another;  and  whether  I  may  ever  live  to  see  your  face 
on  earth  any  more,  the  God  of  heaven  only  knows ;  but 
whether  the  Lord  hath  appointed  that  or  not,  I  charge  you 
before  God  and  his  blessed  angels,  that  you  follow  me  no 
further  than  you  have  seen  me  follow  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  If  God  reveal  anything  to  you  by  any  other  instru- 
ment of  his,  be  as  ready  to  receive  it  as  ever  you  were  to 


wide  acquaintance  in  Gloucester  and  its  neighborhood  could  give  him. 
From  my  boyhood  I  was  accustomed  to  hear  it  said  by  him  and  others 
of  my  family,  that  we  were  descended  from  John  Robinson.  lie  never 
doubted  it,  and  I  did  not  know  that  any  doubt  existed,  or  could  exist, 
on  this  subject,  until  many  years  after  his  death. 

I  am  aware,  also,  that  doubt  has  been  cast  upon  Robinson's 
address.  But  there  is  no  ground  for  this  beyond  the  fact  that  Gov- 
ernor Winslow,  from  whom  we  have  it,  docs  not  assert  that  he  writes 
it  out  from  a  copy.  He  was,  however,  a  careful,  earnest,  and  honest 
man.  And,  to  say  nothing  of  the  probability  that  the  Pilgrims  boro 
with  them  to  their  desert  homes  a  copy,  or  more  than  one,  of  words 
which  were  clothed  for  them  with  all  the  interest  which  spoken  words 
could  have,  Winslow  was  himself  one  of  those  to  whom  they  were 
spoken  ;  and  lie  wrote  his  account  of  the  address  in  the  midst  of  those 
who  heard  it  with  him,  and  while  their  memory  of  it  must  have  been 
fresh,  if  indeed  they  could  ever  have  forgotten  it. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  9 

receive  any  truth  by  my  ministry.  For  I  am  verily  per- 
suaded, —  I  am  very  confident,  —  that  the  Lord  hath  more 
truth  yet  to  break  forth  out  of  his  Holy  Word.  For  my 
part,  I  cannot  sufficiently  bewail  the  condition  of  the  re- 
formed churches,  who  are  come  to  a  period"  in  religion,  and 
will  go  at  present  no  further  than  the  instruments  of  their 

reformation This  is  a  misery  much  to  be  lamented ; 

for  though  they  were  burning  and  shining  lights  in  their 
own  times,  yet  they  penetrated  not  into  the  whole  counsel 
of  God." 

On  the  20th  of  June,  1744,  my  grandfather  was  ordained 
minister  of  Byfield,  in  Essex  County,  Massachusetts.  There 
he  lived  a  peaceful  and  useful  life ;  and  there  he  died,  on 
Sunday,  the  14th  of  December,  1783,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
seven. 

In  the  following  letter  my  father  communicated  the  fact 
to  my  aunt,  Mrs.  Gray,  then  living  at  Epsom,  in  New 
Hampshire. 

MY  DEAR  SISTER: 

You  must  prepare  yourself  for  most  melancholy  and  distressing 
intelligence ;  but  shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ? 
Our  dear  father  is  no  more.  He  left  us  to  become  a  saint  in 
heaven  last  evening,  at  forty  minutes  past  seven.  His  disorder 
•was  originally  a  bad  cold  seated  upon  his  lungs,  and  at  last  such  a 
load  of  phlegm  collected  there  that  he  could  not  expectorate.  His 
strength  failed  him  fast ;  but  his  piety  and  resignation  were  always 
uniform,  and  continued  to  the  end  what  we  have  always  known 
them.  I  first  saw  him  on  Saturday  last,  in  the  forenoon.  He 
smiled  upon  me  as  usual,  and  professed  his  perfect  readiness  to  go, 
saying  that  he  was  satisfied  in  his  religion,  and  that  bis  hopes  were 
firm.  Death  had  no  terrors  for  him  ;  and  whether  he  stopped  or 
died,  seemed  equally  indifferent  to  him.  William  and  Judith  got 
in  from  Boston  about  an  hour  before  the  blessed  man's  translation. 
He  squeezed  their  hands,  and  attempted  to  speak,  but  the  phlegm 
interrupted  that  voice  which  delighted  in  expressions  of  kindness 
and  love.  Afterwards  he  had  a  little  coughing  spell,  and  I  asked 
him  to  raise  and  throw  off  the  phlegm,  and  Judith  held  a  hand- 


10  MEMOIR  OF 

kerchief  to  his  mouth  ;  but  he  replied  that  he  had  raised  nothing, 
and  that  he  should  soon  be  gone.  Then,  turning  himself  on  his 
right  side,  he  fell  into  a  sweet  sleep,  and,  without  a  struggle,  sigh, 
or  groan,  sunk  into  the  everlasting  arms  of  his  Saviour.  He  lay 
•without  an  alteration  of  feature,  but  with  that  same  calm  counte- 
nance which  it  was  our  delight  to  look  upon.  O,  my  dear  sister, 
I  have  seen  a  Christian  live,  and  now  I  have  seen  one  die.  To 
such  a  man  death  has  no  sting,  no  terrors ;  it  is  merely  a  kind 
passport  to  a  blessed  eternity.  There  are  a  thousand  circum- 
stances which  we  shall  love  to  tell,  and  you  will  love  to  remem- 
ber ;  but  as  the  messenger  is  waiting,  I  must  omit  them.  Compose 
yourself,  my  dear,  and  collect  all  your  firmness  to  bear  this  stroke ; 
and  remember  the  hand  from  whom  it  came.  And  can  we,  shall 
we,  now  be  unkind  to  our  best  of  parents,  by  wishing  him  less 
happy  than  he  is  ?  Can  we  desire  to  recall  him  from  heaven,  and 
interrupt  his  happiness  V  Human  nature  has  its  weaknesses,  how- 
ever. But  it  is  our  duty  not  to  indulge,  but  correct  them.  And 
may  we  mourn  my  father  by  living  as  he  has  taught  us  by  his  pre- 
cepts, his  life,  and  (O,  too  high  the  price  of  knowledge  !)  by  his 
death. 

We  propose  to  inter  the  corpse  of  my  father  next  Thursday, 
but  we  much  doubt  whether  you  can  attend.  Do  not,  my  dear 
sister,  expose  your  health,  or  that  of  your  little  ones.  But  if, 
without  danger  or  distress,  you  can  come  to  us,  you  will  be  ex- 
ceeding dear  to  the  afflicted  society.  My  mother  —  poor  woman  ! 
—  supports  herself  much  better  than  I  expected. 

I  send  by  the  bearer  money  for  your  use,  that,  if  you  determine 
to  come,  your  journey  may  be  made  as  convenient  as  possible. 
We  are  all  most  affectionately  yours. 

TiiEom.  PAHSOXS. 
Monday  Morning,  15  December,  1783. 

Of  my  grandfather  I  believe  I  am  authorized,  by  a  large 
amount  of  concurrent  testimony,  to  say,  that  lie  was  an  intel- 
ligent and  thoroughly  respectable  man.  His  published  ser- 
mons indicate  that  his  mind  was  well  cultivated  ;  and  all  I 
have  ever  heard  convinces  me  that  he  had  an  excellent 
judgment,  and  was  a  cautious  and  discreet  person,  who  sel- 
dom thought  or  acted  otherwise;  than  right.  That  he  was 
generally  respected  may  be  inferred  from  his  being  often 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  11 

called  upon  as  referee  or  counsellor,  sometimes  from  a  con- 
siderable distance,  to  settle  disputes  or  investigate  matters  of 
difficulty.  It  is  something,  too,  that  he  was  summoned  from 
his  obscure  and  distant  country  parish  to  preach  the  Elec- 
tion Sermon  before  the  Legislature  ;  for  in  those  days  this 
was  a  matter  of  considerable  moment. 

I  had  thought  of  giving  some  extracts  from  his  printed 
sermons,  and  from  those  preached  at  his  death,  and  other 
contemporary  testimonials  concerning  him,  because  I  was 
convinced,  on  what  seems  to  me  sufficient  evidence,  of 
their  substantial  truth.  Instead  of  this,  however,  I  give 
the  following  extract  from  Allen's  American  Biography.  I 
know  of  no  circumstance  which  should  have  prevented  the 
author  from  fomiing  or  expressing  a  correct  opinion.  He 
evidently  gives,  in  eulogistic  language,  the  result  of  an 
investigation  into  all  the  testimonies  accessible  to  him ;  and 
what  he  states  may  be  considered  (after  a  due  allowance  for 
the  u De  mortuis  nil  nisi  bonum")  as  an  approximation  to 
the  conclusion  to  which  a  fair  consideration  of  the  evidence 
would  lead.  He  says  : 

"  The  Maker  of  the  human  frame  gave  him  a  most  grace- 
ful and  commanding  presence,  a  quick  conception,  a  fertile 
invention,  an  easy  flow  of  thought  and  of  expression,  a  cor- 
rect judgment,  a  resolute  temper,  and  a  large  share  of  the 
kind  and  tender  sensibilities.  These,  expanded  by  a  liberal 
education,  polished  by  a  large  acquaintance  with  mankind, 
and  sanctified  by  Divine  grace,  made  him  eminent  as  the 
gentleman  and  the  Christian,  the  divine  and  the  preacher. 
When  he  had  once  deliberately  fixed  his  opinion  or  his  pur- 
pose, no  opposition  could  shake  him.  He  always  carried 
the  dignity  and  decorum  of  the  Christian  minister  into  his 
most  cheerful  hours  ;  and,  though  he  often  indulged  his 
pleasant  humor  among  his  friends,  he  never  degraded  him- 
self by  the  puerile  jest,  the  boisterous  laugh,  or  by  vain, 
indelicate  mirth.  He  usually  mingled  with  his  sprightly 
sallies  some  useful  lesson  of  a  moral  nature.  He  knew  how 


12  MEMOIR  OF 

to  be  familiar  without  meanness,  sociable  without  loquacity, 
cheerful  without  levity,  grave  without  moroseness,  pious 
without  enthusiasm,  superstition,  or  ostentation,  —  zealous 
against  error  and  vice,  without  ill-natured  littleness,  — 
affable  to  all,  without  the  least  sacrifice  of  his  ministerial 
dignity.  There  was  a  generous  openness  in  his  language 
and  behavior  ;  and  one  could  almost  discern  his  heart  in  his 
frank,  honest  countenance.  He  was  influenced  by  enlarged 
benevolence.  He  was  a  zealous  advocate  of  the  civil  and 
religious  interests  of  his  beloved  America.  Eminent  as  a 
preacher,  he  yet  greatly  excelled  in  the  gift  of  prayer. 
His  last  hours  were  brightened  with  the  hopes  of  the  Gos- 
pel. He  anticipated  the  joy  of  dwelling  in  the  presence  of 
the  Divine  Saviour,  whom  he  had  served  in  his  church 
below." 

I  will  add  a  word  more  about  my  grandfather,  which  may 
illustrate,  not  his  character  only,  but  the  times.  He  was 
invited  to  deliver  the  Election  Sermon  mentioned  above,  in 
1772.  It  was  preached  before  Governor  Hutchinson  and 
his  Council,  and  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  text 
was  from  Proverbs  xxi.  1 :  "  The  king's  heart  is  in  the 
hand  of  the  Lord ;  as  the  rivers  of  waters,  he  turneth  it 
whithersoever  he  will."  The  character  of  the  sermon  may 
be  inferred  from  the  following  extracts.  Considering  the 
time  and  occasion,  and  the  audience,  it  may  be  thought  even 
bolder  than  Dr.  Osgood's  famous  "  Bramble "  sermon,  which 
he  preached  from  Judges  ix.  14,  when  a  Federalist  Legisla- 
ture of  one  year  had  appointed  him  for  the  next,  and  the 
change  of  parties  gave  him  the  opportunity  of  comparing  a 
Democratic  Governor  with  the  bramble  which  the  perverse 
and  foolish  trees  had  invited  to  rule  over  them. 

"  His  present  majesty  ascended  the  throne  of  his  royal 
ancestors  amidst  the  joyful  acclamations  of  his  subjects. 
His  way  to  the  throne  seemed  to  be  paved  with  hearts,  so 

great  was  the  affection  of  his  people  for  him How 

could  we  wish  that  bright  day  had  continued  clear  and 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  13 

serene  ! But  the  scene  is  changed.     Grievances  are 

complained  of  in  Great  Britain,  in  Ireland,  in  America,  in 
this  Province.  The  day  has  become  gloomy  and  dark,  and 

the  waters  are  troubled The  complaints  heard  among 

us  are  not  only  that  the  rivers  are  shifted  into  other  chan- 
nels, but  that  the  waters  have  become  bitter,  yea,  that  the 

waters  have  become  bloody ! I  believe  we  have  as 

much  to  plead  in  our  favor  as  any  part  of  the  king's 
dominions,  or  as  any  people  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 

And  we  hope  the  time  will  soon  come  when  it  will 

appear   that  we have    acted   the    part  of  loyal  and 

dutiful  subjects  ;  though  we  cannot  submit  to  shackles  and 
chains,  so  long  as  we  have  a  just  right  to  the  privileges  of 
freemen" 

My  father's  ancestors  on  his  father's  side  were  always 
respectable,  and  this  is  all  that  I  claim  for  them.  The 
genealogy,  as  was  said  before,  has  been  well  and  minutely 
preserved.  It  discloses  no  crime,  and  no  disgrace  ;  but 
also  no  eminence.  Perhaps  something  more  than  usual 
of  a  military  spirit  was  indicated  by  a  family  which  sent 
four  of  its  members  to  war.  One  of  Jeffrey's  grandsons 
was  a  soldier  in  the  expedition  to  Cape  Breton,  in  1745. 
Another  joined  in  the  expedition  against  the  French  at 
Crown  Point,  in  1756.  A  later  descendant  was  a  soldier  in 
Captain  Howe's  company,  and  was  killed  at  Bunker  Hill ; 
and  his  brother  was  a  soldier  in  the  same  company,  but  sur- 
vived the  battle,  and  was  wrecked  and  lost  in  1792.  They 
were  also  perhaps  unusually  prosperous  ;  displaying  in  all 
their  generations  much  of  the  shrewdness  and  perseverance 
which  insure  reasonable  success  in  life.  But  this  was  all. 
And  if  it  should  appear,  from  what  I  have  to  say  of  my 
father,  that  he  exhibited  more  than  usual  force  of  intellect 
and  character,  I  cannot  but  regard  it  as  his  inheritance 
from  his  mother.  And  it  is  at  least  a  pleasing  imagination, 
which  he  himself  would  not  have  repelled,  that  these  quali- 


14  MEMOIR   OF 

ties  descended  to  her  from  that  ancestor,  the  minister  at 
Leyden,  for  whom  she  strengthened,  if  she  did  not  inspire, 
my  father's  reverence. 

The  respect  and  admiration,  not  of  her  children  only,  but 
of  all  who  knew  her,  —  many  of  whom  I  knew,  —  testified 
to  the  remarkable  qualities  of  my  father's  mother.  She  was, 
I  believe,  eminently  distinguished  for  the  vigor  and  clear- 
ness of  her  understanding,  and  the  strength  of  her  char- 
acter. "Within  the  parish  which  was  her  peculiar  domain, 
she  filled  a  position  and  exerted  an  influence  that  I  do  not 
venture  to  describe,  only  because  they  were  most  extraor- 
dinary, and  I  cannot  transfer  to  these  pages  the  evidence 
on  which  I  believe  them.  But  the  uniform  consent  of 
all  who  knew  her,  and  the  traditions  which  lingered  at 
Byfield  until  I  was  old  enough  to  learn  them,  illustrated 
and  confirmed  as  they  were  by  many  especial  circumstances, 
do  not  permit  me  to  withhold  my  conviction  that  she  was  a 
remarkable  person. 

My  grandfather  was  settled  over  a  rather  small  parish, 
composed  wholly  of  farmers.  No  man  in  the  place  was 
wealthy,  and  no  one  engaged  in  any  trade  or  any  manufac- 
turing business,  other  than  the  common  handicraft  occu- 
pations which  exist  everywhere.  Of  course  he  could  not 
be  largely  paid.  But,  with  a  salary  of  two  hundred  and 
eighty  dollars,  he  brought  up  a  family  of  five  sons  and 
two  daughters,  educated  three  of  his  sons  at  Harvard 
College,  and  always  maintained  a  comfortable  and  hos- 
pitable household.  The  impression  left  upon  my  mind  by 
the  innumerable  anecdotes  I  heard  when  a  boy  was,  that 
my  grandfather's  house  —  not  a  small  one  —  was  almost 
constantly  filled  with  company.  Much  deduction  must  be 
made  from  this  ;  but  there  will  still  be  left  enough  to  con- 
stitute a  wide  and  liberal  hospitality.  I  have  often  heard 
my  father  and  my  uncles  speak  of  this  ;  and  after  referring 
a  part  of  it  to  the  greater  value  of  money  in  those  days, 
and  a  part  to  the  liberality  of  the  parishioners  in  their 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  15 

gifts  and  general  assistance,  they  always  agreed  that  the 
apparent  wonder  was  to  be  explained  by  my  grandmother's 
systematic  and  admirable  economy. 

Attached  to  the  parsonage  was  a  large  farm,  which  my 
grandfather  cultivated  so  well,  that  he  was  regarded  as 
quite  a  pattern  farmer  by  the  neighborhood.  This  was 
doubtless  an  important  resource  ;  and  my  father  and  uncles 
were  fond  of  telling  us  stories  illustrative  of  my  grand- 
mother's sagacity,  order,  and  management,  and  of  the  way 
in  which  everything  was  made  to  yield  the  utmost  advan- 
tage that  could  be  derived  from  it. 

It  may  surprise,  or  amuse,  my  readers,  to  be  told  that 
another  important  resource  for  my  grandfather  was  his  skill 
as  a  sportsman.  Forty  years  ago,  as  I  can  testify,  but  little 
game  was  left  in  that  neighborhood.  But  my  uncles  have 
told  me  that  the  geese,  ducks,  curlews,  and  plover  from  the 
neighboring  river  and  marshes,  and  the  pigeons  and  par- 
tridges from  the  uplands,  which  my  grandfather  brought 
home  a  hundred  years  ago,  supplied  his  table  with  many  a 
savory  dish. 

But  to  return  to  my  grandmother,  I  would  add,  that 
however  busy  as  a  housewife,  and  as  the  ministress  of 
the  parish,  —  for  I  must  coin  this  word  for  her,  —  she  had 
an  earnest  and  constant  love  of  books  and  study,  and  was 
only  preserved  from  indulging  in  this  to  excess  by  the 
absolute  necessity  of  giving  up  the  bulk  of  her  time  to  her 
household  and  her  parish  duties.  As  it  was,  she  employed 
in  the  most  varied  self-culture  every  moment  which  she 
could  save  from  active  occupations.  This  taste,  or,  as  I 
may  call  it,  this  passion  for  books,  my  father  inherited  from 
her,  in  its  full  extent. 

Another  peculiarity  may  not  seem  to  others  so  indica- 
tive of  remarkable  intelligence  as  it  does  to  me.  She  was 
obliged  to  be  much  about  the  sick,  and  observed  carefully 
various  diseases  and  various  modes  of  treatment.  And  she 
came  deliberately  to  the  conclusion,  that  medical  science  was 


16  MEMOIR  OF 

no  science  at  all,  and  that  in  many  cases  quite  as  much  was 
to  be  feared  as  hoped  from  medical  treatment ;  which,  in 
that  day,  was  what  would  now  be  called  "heroic."  In 
the  summer  following  my  grandfather's  death  (1784),  she 
removed  to  Boston,  and  there  lived  until  her  death,  in 
December,  1794,  when  she  was  seventy-five  years  old. 
While  thus  living  with  one  of  my  uncles,  in  Boston,  she 
had  a  violent  and  long-continued  fever.  Not  one  particle 
of  medicine  would  she  take  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 
As  her  disease  increased  in  violence,  and  she  apprehended 
delirium,  she  called  her  sons  together,  and  solemnly  charged 
them,  come  what  might,  to  give  her  no  medicine  whatever. 
And  such  was  her  hold  upon  them,  that  they  obeyed  her 
when  she  could  not  have  known  it  had  they  disobeyed. 
She  recovered,  and  lived  some  years  in  excellent  health. 

As  an  incident  in  my  grandfather's  household  economy, 
and  as  a  cause  of  a  difficulty  which  gave  him  much  trouble, 
I  may  mention  that  he  owned,  or  had  some  interest  in,  three 
slaves,  —  two  men  and  one  woman.  From  1770  to  1780, 
there  Avas,  in  many  quarters,  a  considerable  agitation  about 
slavery.  In  my  grandfather's  parish  it  rose,  in  one  person 
at  least,  to  fever-heat.  One  of  his  deacons  became  violently 
anti-slaveholding.  lie  attacked  sundry  of  the  neighbors, 
and  finally  my  grandfather  himself,  Avith  what  the  deacon 
thought  zeal,  and  they  whom  he  assailed  thought  ferocity. 
There  was  no  complaint  of  personal  ill-treatment  of  the 
slaves,  of  any  kind  ;  but  on  the  ground  that  he  owned  one 
slave  at  least,  —  Violet,  —  he  was  called  a  man-stcaler,  and 
told  that  his  crime  "ranked  with  the  most  enormous  crimes 
that  Scripture  gives  us  any  account  of."  And  so  on  for 
some  years.  My  grandfather  invited  his  deacon  to  ascertain 
the  wishes  of  the  slave  herself ;  and  this  he  accordingly 
did  ;  but  the  answer,  although  exceedingly  emphatic,  and 
well  remembered  in  the  family,  was  not  precisely  such  as  I 
should  wish  to  record.  Suffice  it  to  say,  the  deacon  never 
repeated  his  inquiries ;  but  he  did  continue  his  assaults, 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  17 

until  at  length  the  church  took  the  matter  up,  and  suspended 
him  from  church-fellowship.  He  remained  suspended  until 
some  time  after  my  grandfather's  death.  Then,  in  1785, 
after  the  excitement  of  controversy  had  passed  away,  the 
ex-deacon,  who  was,  I  believe,  a  very  good  man,  but  prob- 
ably not  quite  so  much  better  than  his  neighbors  as  he 
thought  himself,  made  full  and  formal  acknowledgment  that, 
"  in  his  treatment  of  the  Reverend  Moses  Parsons,  the  late 
worthy  pastor  of  the  church,  he  had  urged  his  arguments 
against  the  slavery  of  the  Africans  with  excessive  vehe- 
mence and  asperity,  without  showing  a  due  concern  for  his 
character  and  usefulness  as  an  elder,  or  for  the  peace  and 
edification  of  the  church."  And  thereupon  he  was  restored 
to  full  fellowship. 

Of  the  two  men  whom  my  grandfather  owned  in  some 
qualified  way,  —  perhaps  for  a  term  of  years,  —  I  know 
little  or  nothing,  and  have  forgotten  even  their  names.  Of 
the  woman,  "  Violet,"  who  was  the  main  subject  of  this 
controversy,  I  know  much  more. 

She  was,  to  all  appearance,  of  pure  African  descent.  I 
think  I  never  knew  any  person  whose  face  was  of  a  darker 
hue.  She  came  into  my  grandfather's  possession  while  she 
was  very  young,  and  when  he  was  visiting  at  Gloucester, 
after  his  marriage.  When  it  was  generally  believed  that 
slavery  was  unlawful  in  Massachusetts,  he  summoned  his 
slaves  into  his  sitting-room,  and  there,  in  the  presence  of 
his  children,  declared  to  them  that  they  were  free.  The 
men  accepted  the  gift,  or  rather  the  declaration,  for  gift  it 
was  not.  Not  so  Violet.  "  No,  no,  master,"  said  she,  "  if 
you  please,  this  must  not  be.  You  have  had  the  best  of 
me,  and  you  and  yours  must  have  the  worst.  Where  am 
I  to  go  in  sickness  or  old  age  ?  No,  master ;  your  slave  I 
am,  and  always  Avill  be,  and  I  will  belong  to  your  children, 
when  you  are  gone  ;  and  by  you  and  them  I  mean  to  be 
cared  for."  She  was  as  good  as  her  word.  She  lived  in 
the  family  until  she  was  nearly  ninety.  I  remember  her 
2 


18  MEMOIR  OF 

only  as  a  pet,  a  perfectly  privileged  person.  She  lived 
with  one  or  another  of  my  grandfather's  children,  as  her 
whims  prompted  ;  but  during  her  last  years  my  uncle 
William's  house  was  her  home.  She  was  respectful,  faith- 
ful, and  affectionate  to  my  father,  and  to  my  uncles  and 
aunts,  —  always  calling  them,  however,  by  their  Christian 
names  ;  but  to  others  she  could  be,  at  least  in  extreme 
old  age,  somewhat  cross  and  petulant.  It  was  understood, 
however,  that  Violet  was  to  liberate  her  mind  upon  any 
topic,  and  to  any  person,  at  her  own  pleasure,  and  with 
almost  entire  impunity,  —  for  my  uncles  were  very  unwill- 
ing to  rebuke  her,  and  no  one  else  dared  to,  —  and  on 
the  whole,  she  used  her  privileges  quite  temperately.  She 
had  what  money  she  chose  to  ask  for,  and  spent  it  as  she 
liked ;  and  as  she  was  fond  of  dress,  few  members  of  the 
family  had  more  or  richer  garments.  It  was  touching  to 
see  her,  as  I  did  more  than  once,  groping  her  way,  when 
her  eyesight  had  become  dim,  through  a  large  party  in  my 
uncle's  drawing-room,  to  him,  as  he  sat  —  younger,  but 
almost  as  decrepit  as  she  was  —  in  his  accustomed  seat  by 
the  fireside.  She  passed  among  the  guests,  regardless  of 
them,  or  gently  moving  them  out  of  her  way,  and  laid  her 
hand  on  his  shoulder,  with  "  Billy,  how  do  you  find  your- 
self to-night  ?  Are  you  going  to  get  a  good  sleep  ?  "  And 
he  Avould  answer,  "  Well,  Violet,  I  am  pretty  comfortable 
to-night  ;  and  how  is  it  with  you  ? "  And  after  a  few 
more  kind  words,  her  errand  was  done,  and  off  she  went 
to  bed. 

She  was  extremely  shrewd  and  observing,  and  the  domes- 
tics did  not  like  her ;  for,  purblind  as  she  was,  no  waste  or 
negligence  or  misconduct  could  escape  her  vigilance  or  her 
tongue.  It  was  not  merely  that  she  identified  her  interests 
with  those  of  the  family  ;  but  she  believed  that  she  was 
one  of  us.  She  remembered  nothing  of  parents  or  rela- 
tions of  her  own  blood;  she  grew  up  with  my  grandfather's 
children,  a  child  with  them,  —  and  somehow  she  had  fallen 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  19 

into  an  indefinite  sort  of  notion  that  she  was  of  our  kith 
and  kin. 

As  she  grew  infirm,  she  had  frequent  and  severe  rheuma- 
tism, or  what  was  called  so,  and  troubled  our  family  physi- 
cian —  good  old  Dr.  Eand  —  very  much.  And  let  me 
say,  as  in  a  parenthesis,  how  few  of  my  readers  will  be 
reminded,  by  this  name,  of  one  who  was  in  his  own  day 
brilliant  among  the  greater  lights  of  his  profession !  The 
good  Doctor,  who  had  himself  grown  a  little  testy,  said  to 
her  one  day :  "  Violet,  there  is  no  use  in  calling  on  me  so 
often  ;  I  can  do  nothing  for  you.  Your  pains  are  constitu- 
tional, and  you  must  learn  to  bear  them."  "  O  dear ! "  said 
she,  "  I  suppose  I  must.  Master  had  the  rheumatiz  bad, 
and  Suzy  had  it,  and  Theoph  and  Billy  and  Eben  have  it, 
though  not  so  bad  as  I  do ;  and  I  suppose  it .  runs  in  the 
family."  Master  was  the  name  she  always  gave  my  grand- 
father ;  the  other  names  were  those  of  my  aunt,  father, 
and  uncles.  And  so  Violet,  the  slave,  the  servant,  the 
friend,  lived  among  us  and  died.  At  her  funeral  Presi- 
dent Kirkland  officiated,  and  she  was  buried  with  every 
circumstance  of  expense  or  ceremony  which  could  have 
taken  place  had  she  been  a  daughter  of  the  house  ;  and 
her  remains  now  rest  in  the  family  tomb. 

Even  as  I  write  these  words,  I  am  well  aware  that  it  may 
be  only  the  garrulity  of  approaching  age  which  makes  me 
record  such  trifles.  But  I  will  let  them  stand ;  for,  trifles  as 
they  are,  they  are  among  the  recollections  which  I  shall 
not  lose. 

My  father  was  born  in  Byfield,  on  the  24th  of  February, 
1750.  He  was  my  grandfather's  third  son  and  third  child. 
He  was  educated  at  Dummer  Academy,  in  Byfield,  then 
under  the  charge  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Moody.  Of  this  once  cel- 
ebrated and  not  yet  forgotten  man  he  was  fond  of  speaking, 
and  related  many  anecdotes  about  him.  I  will  mention  only 
that  his  favorite  maxim,  which  he  labored  to  impress  on 


20  MEMOIR  OF 

every  one,  and  to  which  my  father  attributed  much  of  his 
own  success,  and  therefore  perhaps  inculcated  it  as  stren- 
uously as  his  old  instructor,  was  this :  "  Crede  quod  possis, 
et  poles" 

Of  his  infancy  and  childhood  sundry  traits  and  anecdotes 
have  come  down  to  us,  but  none  worth  telling,  unless,  per- 
haps, these  two  may  be  so.  One,  a  very  old  lady  told  me, 
many  years  ago,  when  I  asked  her  about  my  father's  child- 
hood. "  I  can't  remember  much,"  said  she,  "  except  that  he 
was  always  playing  harder  or  studying  harder  than  any 
other  boy  ;  and  which  of  these  two  he  did  the  hardest,  I  do 
not  know." 

The  other  has  seemed  to  me  a  good  illustration  of  what 
are,  or  were,  regarded  by  many  as  prophecies.  When  in 
his  cradle,  he  was  very  ill  with  some  infantile  disease,  and 
his  immediate  death  was  apprehended.  An  old  crone  of  the 
neighborhood,  who  was  thought  to  be  a  witch  by  many  per- 
sons, but  was  rather  a  favorite  protegee  of  my  grandmother's, 
bent  over  him,  and,  after  long  and  careful  observation,  lifted 
herself  up  and  said :  "  You  are  all  wrong.  That  boy  can't 
die  now.  He  has  got  to  get  well,  and  grow  up,  and  live  to 
be  a  judge,  and  ride  in  his  own  coach."  When  he  became 
a  lawyer,  this  was  repeated  by  old  people  who  remembered 
it,  and  repeated  still  oftener  as  his  progress  in  his  profession 
made  the  whole  prediction  probable.  In  180G,  when  it  was 
understood  in  the  family  that  he  was  solicited  to  be  Chief 
Justice,  and  there  was  some  conflict  of  opinion  among  us 
on  the  subject,  good  old  Violet  said :  "  There  is  no  use  in 
making  a  fuss  about  it.  A  judge  he  has  got  to  be,  and  most 
certainly  will  be  ;  for  it  was  foretold  of  him  when  he  lay  in 
his  cradle."  It  was  foretold  of  him,  certainly,  and  probably 
of  a  hundred  other  sick  babies  in  Byiield,  being  only  an 
emphatic  way  of  expressing  the  soothsayer's  opinion  that  the 
child  would  get  well  ;  of  which  her  experience  and  acute 
observation  made  her  a  good  judge.  And  it  was  remem- 
bered only  of  him  of  whom  alone  it  happened  to  become 
true. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  21 

He  entered  Harvard  College  in  1765,  and  graduated*  in 
due  course  in  17G9.  My  grandfather  had,  with  some  diffi- 
culty, sent  his  eldest  son,  Moses,  to  college,  in  1761  ;  and 
when  my  father  was  ready  for  admission,  it  became  still 
more  difficult  to  provide  for  his  expenses.  There  was,  how- 
ever, a  very  strong  desire  that  he  should  go,  arising,  as  I 
have  heard,  from  the  universal  conviction  that  his  ability 
and  industry  promised  great  things.  Something  of  this  may 
have  been  true ;  but  much  of  the  assistance  proffered  and 
received  must  be  attributed  to  the  general  desire  to  gratify 
his  parents.  Among  other  incidents,  I  may  mention  that  a 
domestic  of  the  name  of  Esther  Day,  whose  wages  were 
twelve  pounds  (lawful  money,  that  is  forty  dollars)  a  year, 
proposed  to  relinquish  her  wages  and  let  the  amount  go  to 
his  college  expenses.  This  offer  was  refused  ;  but  many  of 
the  parishioners  tendered  provisions,  clothing,  and  assistance 
in  other  forms,  and  these  were  received.  And  with  similar 
aid,  as  I  suppose,  his  younger  brother,  Theodore,  also  went 
through  college. 

Of  the  college  life  of  my  father  I  do  not  remember  ever 
hearing  him  speak.  I  know,  upon  anything  like  authority, 
almost  nothing  of  it  beyond  what  was  told  by  the  late  Judge 
William  Tudor,  who  was  of  the  same  age  Avith  him,  his 
classmate  and  chum,  and  his  friend  for  forty-seven  years. 
Judge  Tudor  is  quoted  by  Chief  Justice  Parker  as  having 
said :  "  He  was  an  insatiable  student ;  and,  after  learning 
his  lesson,  would  turn  for  his  amusement  to  a  mathematical 
problem,  or  a  novel,  with  equal  relish."  I  find  in  the 
eighth  volume  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections, 
Second  Series,  page  289,  a  sketch  of  his  character,  drawn 

*  I  am  perfectly  aware  that  it  is  usually  thought  more  correct  to  say 
"  was  graduated,"  and  have  generally  yielded,  although  somewhat 
reluctantly,  to  what  seemed  to  be  the  weight  of  authority.  But  having 
noticed  that  Walter  Savage  Landor,  who  certainly  writes  admirable 
English,  and  is  a  great  purist  in  his  use  of  words,  says  "  graduated," 
I  permit  myself  to  say  so. 


22  MEMOIR  OF 

by  Tudor,  in  1774,  when  they  were  both  twenty-three 
years  old.  It  seems  to  have  been  an  amusement  with 
them  to  describe  characters  "after  the  manner  of  Theo- 
phrastus  " ;  and  this  is  the  way  in  which  Tudor  speaks  of 
Parsons : 

"  Nature,  when  she  made  Chrysander,  was  unkind  in 
point  of  externals.  But  though  she  left  him  defective  in 
the  trappings  of  person,  that  deficiency  was  amply  com- 
pensated by  the  bestowment  of  ten  thousand  amiable  and 
valuable  qualities.  To  a  vivacity  of  fancy  and  promptitude 
of  invention,  she  joined  a  penetrating  genius  and  a  spirit  of 
investigation  that  pervaded  her  deepest  recesses.  With  an 
industry  that  difficulties  invigorated,  and  a  sagacity  that 
nothing  could  elude,  it  is  not  to  be  thought  strange  that  he 
soon  became  familiar  with  the  whole  circle  of  the  sciences. 
Though  mathematics,  logic,  and  metaphysics  gave  employ- 
ment to  his  abstruser  hours,  the  happy  turn  of  his  mind 
led  him  to  an  acquaintance  with,  and  the  justness  of  his 
taste  pointed  out  the  beauties  of,  the  belles-lettres.  Thus, 
whilst  he,  one  hour,  laboriously  traced  the  clew  that  con- 
ducted him  to  a  demonstration  of  Euclid,  abstractedly 
meditated  with  Locke,  or  trod  the  planetary  rounds  with 
Newton  and  Ilallcy ;  he  could  the  next  feel,  and,  feeling, 
admire,  the  nervous  diction,  Attic  wit,  noble  sentiments, 
and  classic  elegance  that  illume  the  immortal  writings  of 
a  Bolingbroke,  Pope,  Hume,  or  Robertson. 

"  He  is  emulous  of  applause,  yet  superior  to  envy.  His 
honesty  is  without  severity,  his  benevolence  Avithout  weak- 
ness, and  his  frankness  without  rusticity.  As  his  friendships 
are  built  on  these  principles,  they  are  fev;,  but  they  are 
ardent  and  sincere. 

"If  great  abilities,  united  to  extensive  erudition,  are  the 
steps  to  advancement  and  the  road  to  fame  ;  if  the  purest 
philanthropy  can  excite  esteem  and  secure  affection,  —  'tis 
impossible  that  Chrysander  should  continue  obscure,  or  ever 
be  friendless." 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  23 

This  is,  of  course,  the  language  of  friendship  ;  and  of 
friendship  trying  rather  hard  to  write  finely. 

My  father  was  always  a  writer,  and  a  keeper  of  manu- 
scripts ;  and  among  the  mass  which  he  left  at  his  death,  and 
even  among  the  few  which  I  now  have,  there  are  some 
which  go  back  to  his  college  days.  These  indicate  most 
distinctly  that  he  was  a  diligent  but  somewhat  desultory 
student,  especially  fond  of  mathematics,  and  already  exhib- 
iting much  of  the  extraordinary  neatness  and  precision  in 
the  use  of  his  pen  and  drawing-instruments  which  are  the 
first  things  that  sti'ike  one  who  looks  at  his  manuscripts. 

Soon  after  leaving  college  he  began  to  teach  a  school  at 
Falmouth,  as  the  city  of  Portland  was  then  called.  His 
account-book,  now  lying  before  me,  indicates  that  he  began 
this  school  on  the  25th  of  June,  1770,  and  kept  it  to  the  8th 
of  September,  1773  ;  being  a  little  more  than  three  years. 
It  seems  to  have  been  in  some  way  a  public  school,  because 
in  his  accounts  he  charges  the  town  of  Falmouth,  for  keep- 
ing it,  £5  Cs.  8d.  a  month;  which,  in  lawful  money,  so 
called,  (the  currency  then  and  now  of  Massachusetts  and 
Maine,  so  far  as  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence  are  used,) 
amounted  to  $17.79.  But  it  would  also  seem  not  to  have 
been  a  public  school  in  our  sense  of  the  term  ;  for  he 
kept  accounts  with  the  parents  and  guardians  of  the  pupils, 
charging  for  each  one  from  two  to  six  shillings  (from 
thirty-three  cents  to  a  dollar)  for  each  term.  He  credits 
the  parents  with  the  sums  they  paid  him,  but  does  not 
carry  these  sums  to  the  credit  of  the  town.  He  either 
had  private  pupils,  or  by  his  bargain  with  the  town  was 
paid  so  much  from  the  town  treasury,  and  as  much  more  as 
the  children  should  pay ;  and  this  I  suppose  was  the  case. 

Among  his  papers  are  memoranda  of  his  expenses  in 
journeying  from  Byfield  to  Falmouth,  and  back.  They 
sound  strangely  now.  He  rode  on  horseback,  and  slept 
one  night  on  the  road ;  and  the  whole  expense,  including 
"  punch  "  at  each  dinner  and  at  night,  was  twelve  shillings 


24  MEMOIR  OF 

and  five  pence,  or  $  2.07.  Thus,  at  "  Littlefield's,  Wells," 
the  charge  is,  "  Supper,  punch,  lodging,  and  horse-keeping," 
two  shillings  and  threepence  (or  thirty-seven  and  a  half 
cents)  ;  and  at  "  Greenland,  Clark's,  oats,  hay,  dinner,  and 
punch,"  one  shilling  and  tcnpence  (or  thirty-one  cents). 

During  all  this  time  he  was  studying  law  with  Theophilus 
Bradbury,  an  eminent  lawyer  of  Falmouth ;  and  in  July, 
1774,  he  was  admitted  to  practice.  In  the  second  volume 
of  Willis's  valuable  History  of  Portland,  (page  52,)  it  is- 
said  that  "  Those  who  remember  him  while  engaged  in  this 
humble  pursuit,"  (that  of  school-keeping),  "  speak  of  his 
close  and  unremitted  application  to  study  when  not  engaged 
in  school."  And  in  a  foot-note  to  this  passage  Mr.  AVillis 
says  :  "  Mr.  Parsons  boarded  three  years  with  Deacon  Cod- 
man,  and  the  remainder  of  the  time  with  Dr.  Deane.  Mr. 
Codman's  son,  Avho  went  to  school  to  him,  told  me  that  Mr. 
Parsons  was  constantly  studying  when  out  of  school ;  that 
he  was  always  in  his  chamber.  It  is  well  known  that  this 
great  man,  in  addition  to  his  vast  attainments  in  the  science 
of  the  law,  was  a  profound  classical  scholar,  and  deeply 
skilled  in  mathematics."  How  far  this  praise  was  merited, 
my  readers  Avill  be  enabled  to  judge. 

It  must  have  been  from  Portland,  and  while  he  was  a 
student,  that  he  wrote  the  following  letter  to  his  brother 
Theodore. 

DEAR  BROTHER : 

The  last  letter  I  received  from  you  was  in  French,  dated  some 
time  last  fall.  Soon  after  the  receipt  of  it,  I  wrote  you  one  in  that 
language,  and  sent  it  by  Mr.  S.  Freeman,  who  left  it  at  Cape 
Ann,  with  Eben,  who  told  him  he  should  see  you  soon,  and  would 
deliver  it;  whether  he  has  or  no,  you  have  not  been  kind  enough 
to  inform  me.  I  should  suspect  you  had  stolen  oft"  to  some  other 
climate,  by  your  silence,  if  my  father  did  not  favor  me  with  his 
correspondence.  Through  that  channel,  I  learn  that  you  spent  the 
winter  at  Medford;  that  this  spring  you  have  visited  Cape  Ann. 
What  can  be  the  reason  of  your  silence  ?  I  can't  conjecture ; 
do  you  tell  me.  The  intelligence  from  Cape  Ann  gives  me  great 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PAESONS.  25 

anxiety ;  my  only  consolation  is  that  the  fears  of  Molly's  friends 
have  exaggerated  her  indisposition.  Sister  Susa,  I  am  told,  is 
there  ;  and  that  my  brother  can't  do  without  her.  1  am  glad  she 
is  able  to  assist  our  sister ;  but  I  believe  the  collision  of  their 
tempers  does  sometimes  produce  fire.  Though  you  care  so  little 
about  me,  I  feel  solicitous  about  your  future  destination ;  perhaps 
with  as  little  reason  as  the  snail  regrets  the  tardiness  of  the  hound. 
My  father  even  now  hints  a  word  to  me  about  preaching;  but 
that  I  believe  you  hear  oftener  than  I  do.  But  never  let  a  man 
think  of  being  a  minister,  unless  he  can  quietly  deny  himself  the 
enjoyments  of  life,  and  expect  his  reward  only  above  the  stars. 
I  am  never  more  pleased  with  any  metaphor,  than  when  life  is 
compared  to  a  journey ;  and  the  sphere  we  move  in  resembles  the 
steed  which  carries  us  on  our  way.  A  dull  beast  is  disagreeable, 
and  so  is  a  situation  in  which  we  place  ourselves  with  reluctance ; 
and  who  is  there  that  is  not  delighted  with  good  entertainment 
and  cheerful  company  through  this  gloomy  vale  ?  But  when  we 
dismount,  horse,  entertainment,  and  company  vanish.  If  we  were 
unfortunate  in  our  choice,  perhaps  we  may  then  relish  the  truth 
of  the  old  proverb,  that  acti  labores  jucundi  sunt.  But  philosophy 
is  an  empty  name,  if  we  mean  to  sweeten  the  bitter  draughts  of 
life  with  it ;  it  is  then  no  more  efficacious  than  a  ballad  to  chase 
away  the  headache.  Hope  is  the  grand  catholicon  for  every  evil 
but  despair,  and  it  is  a  remedy  we  are  not  easily  deprived  of. 

Commencement  is  approaching,  when  you  receive  your  manu- 
mission ;  but  it  is  uncertain  whether  I  shall  be  present.  If  I  am 
not,  I  shall  go  to  the  westward  soon  after,  when  I  suppose  I  shall 
see  you.  Those  books  of  mine  in  your  possession  I  should  be> 
obliged  to  have  you  return  by  the  packet,  as  that  is  the  most  con- 
venient way.  Fuller  on  the  Globes,  and  Martin's  Grammar,  I 
want ;  the  rest  are  not  of  so  much  consequence. 

I  should  take  it  as  a  favor  if  you  would  write  me  soon,  before 
you  leave  Cambridge. 

Your  affectionate 

TIIEOPII.  PARSONS. 

It  may  be  inferred  from  this  letter,  that  my  father  knew 
French,  and  was  studying  astronomy  while  in  Falmouth. 
He  compares  his  solicitude  about  Theodore  to  the  regret  of 
the  snail  for  the  tardiness  of  the  hound.  From  my  earliest 


26  MEMOIR  OF 

childhood  I  was  accustomed  to  hear  my  uncle  Theodore 
spoken  of  as  having  been  the  star  of  the  family.  I  am 
quite  sure  that  as  much  was  expected  from  him  as  from 
my  father,  if  not  more.  He  studied  medicine,  and  was  with 
the  army  in  Rhode  Island  in  1778,  and  wrote  many  letters 
home,  of  which  I  publish  in  the  Appendix  all  that  remain. 
Immediately  afterwards  he  went  to  sea  as"  surgeon  of  a 
privateer,  and  after  one  letter  (also  in  the  Appendix),  was 
never  heard  of  more. 

I  have  my  father's  docket-books  through  all  his  profes- 
sional life ;  but  they  seem  to  be  quite  imperfect.  At  his 
first  term,  he  made  fifty-nine  writs,  of  which  thirteen  were 
entered  as  issuable  cases.  I  do  not  find  an  equal  number 
again  for  some  years  ;  and  the  highest  number  I  have 
seen  was  eighty  writs,  returnable  at  April  term,  Essex 
County,  1784.  From  the  sudden  burst  of  success  with 
which  it  would  thus  appear  that  he  entered  upon  his  pro- 
fession, I  should  infer  that  he  had  not  only  been  a  diligent 
student,  but  had  acquired  a  good  reputation  as  such.  Per- 
haps he  was  much  benefited  by  a  circumstance  which,  for 
a  time,  seemed  to  threaten  him  with  an  important  obstruc- 
tion. The  committee  of  the  bar  to  whom  his  application  for 
admission  was  referred,  construed  the  rule  then  existing, 
which  required  three  years'  previous  study  of  law,  as  mean- 
ing three  years  of  exclusive  study,  and  regarded  him  as  not 
complying  with  it,  because  he  had  all  the  time  taught  a 
school,  and  could  have  given,  as  they  said,  only  his  leisure 
to  the  law.  But  he  earnestly  requested  an  examination  ; 
and,  this  being  granted,  he  received  a  unanimous  recom- 
mendation, in  language  of  high  praise. 

This  brilliant  prospect  was  soon  clouded.  In  October, 
1775,  Admiral  Graves,  then  in  command  of  the  British 
squadron  lying  in  Boston  Day,  despatched  thence,  some 
ships-of-war  with  orders  to  destroy  Falmouth;  and  it  was 
almost  totally  burned. 

My  father  returned  at  once  to  Byfield,  disappointed,  sad- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  27 

dened,  and  as  nearly  crushed  by  this  calamity  as  it  was  pos- 
sible for  him  to  be.  But  it  proved  to  be  a  most  fortunate 
event ;  and  he  often  referred  to  it  as  the  true  beginning  and 
foundation  of  all  his  professional  success  ;  for  in  his  father's 
house  he  found  Judge  Trowbridge. 

This  eminent  and  excellent  man  had  resigned  his  seat  on 
the  bench  in  1772,  and  now  retreated  to  this  quiet  nook, 
ostensibly  to  escape  from  the  small-pox,  which  then  was,  or 
threatened  to  be,  epidemic  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity.  It 
was  supposed,  however,  that  the  political  convulsions  of 
the  day  drove  him  from  his  home  in  Cambridge ;  for  he 
was  not  free  from  suspicions  of  Toryism,  although  never 
molested.  He  remained  in  Byfield  a  considerable  time  ; 
and  when  he  found  that  my  father  was  to  be  his  companion 
and  student,  he  ordered  thither  all  his  library ;  which  was 
not  only  the  best,  but  probably  the  only  thoroughly  good 
one,  then  in  New  England.  He  found  in  my  father  an 
intelligent  student,  of  devoted  industry,  prepared  by  pre- 
vious habits,  as  well  as  previous  knowledge,  to  profit  by  this 
golden  opportunity ;  and  accepting  as  a  gift  of  unspeakable 
value  the  instruction  and  assistance  which  the  good  judge 
was  glad  to  render. 

Edmund  Trowbridge  died  in  Cambridge,  in  1793,  at  the 
age  of  ninety-four  ;  and  during  half  of  this  long  life  he  was, 
by  common  consent,  regarded  as  the  most  learned  lawyer  of 
New  England.  In  the  seventh  volume  of  the  Massachusetts 
Reports  (page  20),  my  father  speaks  of  his  excellence  as  a 
common-law  lawyer,  and  says  :  "  The  late  Judge  Trow- 
bridge was  an  excellent  common-law  lawyer,  of  whose 
friendly  assistance  in  my  early  professional  studies  I  cher- 
ish the  most  grateful  remembrance."  And  Chancellor  Kent, 
in  his  Commentaries,  calls  him  "  the  oracle  of  the  common 
law  in  New  England."  And  yet,  so  evanescent  is  pro- 
fessional fame,  very  few  of  my  readers  would  know  whom  I 
meant  by  that  name,  unless  they  are,  as  lawyers,  acquainted 
with  his  Treatise  on  Mortgages,  which  my  father  caused 


28  MEMOIR  OF 

to  be  published  in  the  eighth  volume  of  the  Massachusetts 
Reports. 

Trowbridge  was  the  adopted  child  and  heir  of  his  uncle, 
Colonel  Edmund  Goffe,  who  was  with  Phipps,  in  an  expe- 
dition against  Canada,  in  the  days  of  Queen  Anne ;  and  he 
took  the  name  of  his  uncle  when  quite  young.  Whether  he 
Avas  connected  in  any  way  with  the  family  of  the  regicide 
judge,  who  was  so  long  and  so  well  concealed  in  New  Eng- 
land, I  do  not  know.  lie  must  have  changed  his  name 
again  about  the  time  of  the  Revolution ;  for  John  Adams 
speaks  of  him  in  his  Diary  under  both  names,  and  indeed 
in  one  instance  uses  both  in  the  same  paragraph.  It  was 
said  that  he  resumed  his  first  name  from  some  difficulty 
with  his  uncle  ;  perhaps,  also,  he  wished  to  forget  his 
kinship,  if  any  there  were,  to  a  king-killer,  for  he  was  very 
loyal.  He  was  a  Tory  in  heart,  and  to  some  extent  in 
speech ;  but  remained  inactive,  perhaps  neutral,  through 
the  contest.  He  did  not  abstain  from  the  conflict  through 
cowardice  or  physical  unfitncss  ;  for  he  had  strong  proclivi- 
ties to  war  and  combat,  and  was  "  a  master  of  fence  "  and 
an  excellent  horseman.  But  he  was  a  kind-hearted  man, 
strongly  influenced  by  social  and  family  relations  ;  and 
three  persons,  who  were  his  nearest  connections,  were  so 
strongly  committed  to  the  cause  of  independence,  that  they 
held  him  in  check.  These  three  were  Richard  Dana, 
Francis  Dana,  and  William  Ellery.  Trowbridge  had  no 
brother,  no  children,  and  but  one  sister ;  and  Richard  Dana 
was  her  husband,  and  Francis  Dana  (afterwards  Chief 
Justice)  was  their  child,  and  his  nephew  and  heir ;  and 
William  Ellery  had  married  the  sister  of  Mrs.  Trowbridge. 
I  do  not  suppose;  Judge  Trowbridge  felt  very  strongly  on 
the  questions  of  the  day,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  con- 
test he  certainly  sympathized  with  those  who  resisted  the 
usurpations  of  the  royal  ministers.  These-  he  could  see  to 
be  illegal.  But  he  was  a  thoroughly  educated  technical 
lawyer,  and  had  been  the  king's  Attorney-General,  and  was 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  29 

then  a  Judge  by  the  king's  commission,  and  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  consider  and  decide  all  questions  of  right  or  of 
conduct,  under  the  light  of  precedent,  and  perhaps  was 
unable  to  regard  them  otherwise ;  and  he  could  discern  no 
ground  that  was  tenable,  according  to  his  views  and  habits 
of  mind,  for  pushing  resistance  to  the  king's  authority  quite 
to  rebellion. 

It  has  been  always  said,  as  I  have  intimated,  that  he 
retreated  to  Essex  County  from  fear  of  the  small-pox.  But 
at  the  breaking  out  of  the  disturbances,  Francis  Dana,  who 
was  not  only  his  nephew,  but  had  married  William  Ellery's 
daughter,  who  was  his  wife's  niece,  had  recently  gone  to 
England  on  a  mission'  to  Franklin  and  Quincy  (though 
ostensibly  to  visit  a  brother  who  was  a  settled  clergyman 
in  England),  leaving  his  wife  and  child  with  Judge  Trow- 
bridge,  in  Cambridge.  The  Committee  of  Public  Safety 
then  sat  in  that  town ;  and  General  Warren,  who  was  its 
most  active  member,  made  a  call  of  friendship  and  courtesy 
on  Mrs.  Dana,  and  suggested  to  her  that  it  might  be  more 
agreeable  for  her  to  withdraw  for  a  Avhile  from  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood  of  Boston,  and  offered  her  a  letter  of 
safe-conduct.  Such  a  document  was  then  of  much  value  ; 
for  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty  "  were  always  watchful,  some- 
times very  troublesome,  and  did  not  always  refrain  from 
violence.  She  accepted  it,  and  spoke  of  joining  her  father's 
family  in  Rhode  Island.  Judge  Trowbridge  was  in  the 
room ;  and  General  Warren,  turning  to  him,  very  cour- 
teously made  him  the  same  offer.  Possibly  the  Judge 
interpreted  the  offer  as  a  hint  that  he  had  better  seek 
quieter  quarters.  At  all  events,  he  accepted  the  proposi- 
tion ;  and  to  escape  the  consequences  of  neutrality  in  so 
fierce  a  struggle  that  neutrality  would  have  been  deemed 
hostility,  he  departed  with  his  safe-conduct  to  Byfield,  and 
thus  gave  my  father  the  opportunity  of  profiting  by  his 
invaluable  instruction. 

There  was  indeed  an  affinity  between  them  in  a  tendency 


30  MEMOIR  OF 

which  was  common  to  both,  and  to  my  father's  peace  and 
comfort  was  most  injurious  ;  and  this  was  a  strong  disposi- 
tion towards  hypochondria.  I  shall  have  more  to  say  of  this 
in  connection  with  my  father,  in  a  subsequent  chapter.  He 
could  hardly  have  caught  it  with  his  law  from  Judge  Trow- 
bridge  ;  but  in  that  great  lawyer  it  was  already  well  devel- 
oped, although  it  did  not  break  out  into  full  perfection  until 
years  afterwards,  when  he  had  no  work  to  do.  Then  it 
seemed  to  excite  in  him  a  terror  of  whatever  disease  was 
prevalent.  Thus,  when  the  measles  were  somewhat  epi- 
demic, his  fears  were  concentrated  into  a  dread  of  that 
disease.  While  it  existed  in  Cambridge,  he  would  not  sit 
among  the  people  on  Sunday,  but  had  a  chair  placed  for 
him  in  the  porch  of  the  meeting-house ;  and  while  the  dis- 
ease continued  in  the  neighborhood,  he  kept  sand-bags  at 
the  doors  of  his  house  to  exclude  the  mephitic  air.  When 
riding,  he  always  sent  his  old  and  faithful  servant,  Sam 
Rylands,  forward,  to  inquire  at  the  house  where  he  pur- 
posed to  bait  his  horse,  whether  the  measles  were  in  it.  He 
sometimes  carried  his  precautions  so  far  as  to  subject  him- 
self, and  others  also,  to  inconvenience.  For  example,  when 
driving  out  in  the  neighborhood  for  purposes  of  business  or 
recreation,  if  there  were  any  passengers  whom  he  would 
probably  be  obliged  to  meet  or  pass,  —  especially  if  the  road 
were  so  narrow  that  he  must  come  quite  near  to  them, — 
it  was  one  of  Sam's  strange  duties  to  go  to  them  and  in- 
quire whether  they  had  the  measles,  or  any  other  malady  of 
which  the  Judge  happened  then  to  stand  in  especial  fear, 
that  some  arrangement  might  be  made  in  that  case  for  his 
safety.  The  persons  thus  accosted  were  not  always  duly 
grateful  for  the  Judge's  solicitude  about  their  health  ;  but 
were  sometimes  greatly  aggrieved,  and  manifested  their  dis- 
pleasure by  disagreeable  answers. 

In  those  days  the  Sons  of  Liberty  made  domiciliary 
visits,  and  sometimes  with  uncomfortable  results.  Trow- 
bridgc  had  in  his  parlor  a  full-length  portrait  of  Governor 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  31 

Hutchinson,  in  an  elaborate  frame.  This  he  permitted,  for 
a  time,  to  be  put  into  a  dark  closet  under  the  eaves.  Still, 
it  might  be  found  if  the  house  should  be  visited  by  a  mob, 
or  even  by  a  committee.  So,  one  day,  in  the  Judge's 
absence,  some  of  the  family,  partly  to  protect  him,  and 
quite  as  much  perhaps  from  their  hostility  to  Hutchinson, 
cut  the  canvas  from  the  frame,  and  burned  it  in  a  large  fire, 
with  closed  shutters.  In  the  frame  they  put  a  portrait  of 
Richard  Dana  (father  of  the  Chief  Justice)  by  Copley ; 
and  this  portrait,  in  this  frame,  now  hangs  in  the  parlor  of 
Richard  H.  Dana,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  grandson  of  Richard, 
and  son  of  the  Chief  Justice. 

Trowbridge's  house  stood  in  Cambridge  next  to  the  site 
now  occupied  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Albro's  meeting-house,  and 
was  some  time  since  taken  down.  His  office,  which  he  occu- 
pied during  his  whole  Cambridge  life,  and  in  which  Chief 
Justice  Dana,  Rufus  King,  Royall  Tyler,  Christopher  Gore, 
Harrison  Gray  Otis,  and  my  father,  with  sundry  others, 
studied  law,  was  removed  to  Cambridgeport,  and  is  now 
there,  let  as  a  domicile  to  an  Irish  family,  or  families. 

After  Judge  Trowbridge's  return  to  Cambridge,  my 
father,  although  then  in  practice,  continued  to  profit  by  his 
instructions.  How  much  he  valued,  and  how  well  he  im- 
proved these  opportunities,  I  shall  show  more  fully  when  I 
speak  of  him  as  a  lawyer.  Now,  I  Avill  only  say  that  his 
assiduous  study  while  the  Judge  was  at  Byfield  prostrated 
his  health ;  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven  he  was  ema- 
ciated and  raised  much  blood,  and  was  thought  to  be  dying 
of  consumption. 

His  mother  believed  the  best  remedy  would  be  a  course 
of  life  the  very  opposite  of  that  which  had  brought  on  the 
disease.  She  bade  him  mount  the  old  family  horse  and 
depart,  and  keep  on  horseback  until  he  was  well  again. 
The  first  day,  I  have  heard  him  say,  he  could  ride  only 
seven  miles,  at  a  walking  pace.  But  he  slept  well  that 
night,  and  the  next  day  he  rode  farther,  and  soon  was  able 


32  MEMOIR  OF 

to  bear  all  the  exercise  the  horse  could  give  him.  He  was 
absent  for  a  considerable  time,  wandering,  I  believe,  to  the 
western  part  of  this  State  and  to  New  Hampshire,  riding  as 
much  as  his  horse  could  bear,  and  in  the  intervals  walking 
in  the  open  air  as  much  as  he  himself  could  bear.  He 
returned  to  his  home  with  his  health  quite  restored. 

From  his  account-books  it  would  seem  that,  during  all  the 
period  of  his  residence  at  Byfield,  he  continued  to  do  what 
business  he  could.  He  had  some  clients  still  in  Falmouth ; 
but  his  business  there  seems  to  have  died  out  soon  after  he 
removed  to  Byfield,  and  for  some  time  it  was  confined  to 
Essex  County.  But  there  it  increased  very  rapidly.  At 
thirty  years  of  age  his  position  was  established,  his  success 
certain  and  great.  His  office  was  in  Newburyport.  In 
that  town,  on  the  loth  day  of  January,  1780,  he  married 
my  mother,  Elizabeth  Greenleaf,  a  daughter  of  Judge 
Greenleaf  and  granddaughter  of  Dr.  Charles  Chauncy  of 
Boston,  and  the  fifth  in  descent  from  Dr.  Charles  Chauncy, 
the  second  President  of  Harvard  College. 

Dr.  Chauncy  (my  great-grandfather)  married  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Hirst,  who  was  a  sister  of  Lady  Pepperell.  When 
Mrs.  Chauncy  died,  her  daughter  was  a  child,  and  went  to 
live  with  Sir  William,  and  there  Judge  Greenleaf  became 
acquainted  with  her. 

Since  writing  the  above,  a  volume  entitled  "  Chauncy 
Memorials  "  has  reached  me.  It  is  compiled  by  the  Rev. 
William  Chauncy  Fowler  of  Amherst,  and  gives  the  results 
of  long  and  enthusiastic  labors.  It  serves  to  illustrate  a 
principle  sometimes  referred  to  elsewhere,  but  most  distinctly 
stated  and  fully  elucidated  by  my  friend,  Dr.  Palfrey,  in  his 
able  and  learned  work  entitled  "  Relation  between  Judaism 
and  Christianity."  It  is,  that  the  increase  in  a  geometrical 
ratio  of  the  number  of  our  ancestors  as  we  ascend,  proves 
that,  after  some  generations,  everybody  is  the  descendant  of 
everybody.  If  we  say  that  there  are  twenty-eight  genera- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  33 

tions  in  one  thousand  years,  and  every  man  has,  on  the 
average,  two  children,  whoever  lived  one  thousand  years 
ago  has  now  considerably  more  than  a  fourth  part  of  the 
estimated  population  of  the  earth,  if  there  have  been  no  in- 
termarriages, among  his  descendants.  'These  of  course  there 
have  been ;  but,  as  Dr.  Palfrey  says  in  a  note :  "  You  and  I, 
reader,  have  had  more  than  a  thousand  millions  of  progeni- 
tors since  the  time  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy.  Whoever  you 
are,  it  is  extremely  probable  that  the  blood  of  Egbert  of 
England  and  of  Egbert's  meanest  menial  runs  in  the  veins 
of  both  of  us." 

Thus,  the  Chauncy  family,  while  entirely  respectable, 
has  never  been,  so  far  as  I  know,  of  any  remarkable  impor- 
tance, at  least  not  in  modern  times ;  but  the  genealogy  of 
President  Chauncy,  the  founder  of  the  American  branch, 
has  been  well  preserved ;  and  it  goes  back,  certainly,  to  a 
Norman  baron  who  "  came  over  with  the  Conqueror,"  and 
had  large  estates  in  Normandy  and  in  England ;  and  by  the 
marriages  of  his  descendants  with  other  baronial  families, 
all  who  can  trace  back  their  lineage  to  the  President  can 
prove  connection  by  blood  with  many  of  the  highest  fami- 
lies in  English  history  ;  as,  for  example,  the  De  Veres  of 
Oxford,  the  Bigods  of  Norfolk,  the  Marshalls,  Earls  of  Pem- 
broke, Shakespeare's  Siward  of  Northumberland,  De  Brito, 
the  builder  of  Belvoir  Castle  and  ancestor  in  a  maternal  line 
of  the  Duke  of  Rutland,  the  Earls  of  Bridgewater,  and  the 
family  of  De  Roos,  who  are  among  the  oldest  of  the  nobility 
of  England.  If  this  seems  strange,  I  suppose  that  the  pecu- 
liarity consists  only  in  the  fact  that  the  thing  can  be  proved, 
because  of  the  care  with  which  all  these  genealogies  have 
been  preserved ;  for  it  would  be  easy  to  show  that  it  is 
mathematically  probable  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  our 
New  England  families  have  —  if  we  go  back  far  enough  — 
a  parentage  which  extends  its  roots  just  as  Avidely  among, 
not  the  highest  only,  but  the  highest  and  the  lowest,  of 
the  families  of  England.  And  so  must  it  be  inevitably, 
3 


34  MEMOIR   OF 

unless  where  the  artifice  of  caste  comes  in  to  control  the 
natural  and  wholesome  law  which  compels  this  mingling  of 
blood. 

The  Chauncys  have  labored  strenuously  to  verify  and 
preserve  their  pedigree  ;  and  about  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  one  of  the  family  printed  upon  a  sheet  some  three 
or  four  feet  square  the  genealogy  in  all  its  details,  from  the 
baron  whose  name  stands  in  the  Battle  Abbey  roll  as  one 
of  the  Conqueror's  knights.  He  brought  a  copy  to  my 
father,  as  he  sat  in  his  office,  and  apprehending  from  the 
manner  of  reception  that  it  might  not  be  carefully  pre- 
served, begged  permission  to  nail  it  up  over  the  fireplace. 
There  it  was  spread  out  in  all  its  beauty.  But  my  father 
smoked  nearly  all  the  time  he  was  in  his  office.  "Waste 
newspapers  did  not  then  abound ;  and  scraps  which  could 
be  written  on  were  saved  then  as  they  are  not  now,  and 
friction-matches  were  unknown.  This  sheet  was  sadly  con- 
venient ;  and  he  began  with  tearing  a  narrow  strip  from  the 
white  border  ;  but  he  gradually  extended  his  ravages,  until, 
when  I  remember  it,  all  our  generations,  as  far  back  as  the 
reign  of  Richard  II.,  had  fallen  a,  sacrifice.  What  became 
of  the  fragment  I  do  not  know.  I  am  happy  to  say  that  I 
inherited  another  copy  of  this  map,  a  few  years  since,  from 
an  ancient  maiden  relative  ;  and  I  take  better  care  of  it 
than  my  father  did  of  his  copy. 

He  built,  soon  after  his  marriage,  a  large  house,  which 
is  now  standing  on  Green  Street  in  Newburyport,  and 
lived  there  some  twenty  years. 

My  mother  gave  birth  to  twelve  living  children,  of  whom 
five  died  in  infancy,  seven  grew  to  adult  age,  and  three  now 
survive. 

Soon  after  his  marriage,  a  portrait  of  him  was  painted, 
for  his  father,  which  1  now  have.  It  is  a  very  poor 
painting,  but  was  always  said  to  have  been  a  most  excellent 
likeness.  I  confess,  however,  that  I  sec  in  it  but  little 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  35 

resemblance  to  the  man  I  knew.  It  represents  him  as  thin, 
pale,  somewhat  sickly,  and  rather  sad.  But  there  is  nothing 
like  this  in  the  head  by  Stuart,  of  which  I  place  a  copy  at 
the  beginning  of  this  volume.  This  head  was  painted  from 
memory,  immediately  after  his  death,  and  was  never  fin- 
ished. I  regard  it  as  an  admirable  likeness.  Stuart  was 
earnestly  requested  by  my  uncle  William  to  finish  it  ;  but 
he  always  refused  to  do  so,  saying  that  he  had  seen  my 
father  for  an  hour,  and  painted  while  the  vision  lasted,  and 
if  he  saw  him  again  he  would  finish  it,  and  not  otherwise. 
By  all  which  he  meant,  that  he  had  seized  an  hour  of  very 
vivid  recollection  to  make  this  sketch,  and  that  he  could  not 
recall  it.  I  am  glad  he  never  attempted  to  finish  this  por- 
trait. From  it  he  made  several,  —  one  for  my  uncle  and 
some  for  public  bodies,  —  using  this  sketch  as  an  original, 
and  finishing  up  the  copy  as  Avell  as  he  could.  But  all 
of  these  portraits  are,  as  I  think,  inferior  to  this  sketch  in 
force  and  in  resemblance. 

In  1800  he  removed  to  Boston,  and  lived  a  year  in  an 
old  house  in  Bromfield  Lane,  or  Bromfiekl  Street  as  it  now 
is,  on  the  site  on  which  the  Indian  Queen  Tavern  after- 
wards stood,  and  the  Bromfield  House  now  stands. 

In  1801  he  bought  a  house  with  a  large  garden  on  the 
eastern  side  of  Pearl  Street,  where  now  granite  Avarehouses 
stand. 

There,  on  Saturday,  the  30th  day  of  October,  1813,  he 
died. 


36  MEMOIR  OF 


CHAPTER   III. 

OF   HIM  AS  A  STATESMAN. 

IT  should  not  be  difficult  to  understand  what  he  was  in 
this  respect ;  for  the  key  to  his  conduct  and  character  as 
a  politician,  and  to  his  influence  upon  the  politics  of  the 
country,  is  easily  found.  lie  was  eminently  and  thoroughly 
conservative.  He  was  so  by  natural  tendency,  and  by 
education  and  habit ;  and  the  longer  he  lived,  the  more 
conservative  he  became ;  either  because  experience  and 
observation  brought  to  him  constantly  new  proofs  of  the 
correctness  of  his  views,  or  because  these  opinions  were  so 
firmly  fixed  that  he  saw  everything  through  them,  and 
they  gave  to  every  object  of  thought  their  own  aspect  and 
color. 

The  two  great  principles  of  progress  and  of  conserva- 
tism arc  as  inevitable  in  all  free  countries  as  are  the  cen- 
tripetal and  centrifugal  forces  in  the  planetary  system.  By 
their  conflicts,  their  compensations,  and  their  influence  upon 
each  other,  they  preserve  all  things  in  an  ever-shifting  but 
never-failing  equilibrium.  They  demand  each  other,  pro- 
duce each  other,  and  confirm  each  other.  A  few,  very  few 
men  may  possibly  stand  so  near  the  centre  that  they  cannot 
be  seen  to  incline  to  either  side  ;  but  generally  we  may  say 
of  them  something  like  that  which  an  eminent  moralist  has 
said  of  the  virtues  of  moderation  and  contentment:  "  Excel- 
lent things,  no  doubt,  and  always  to  be  greatly  respected  ; 
but  for  the  most  part  closely  allied  to  indifference  and  indo- 
lence." 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  37 

"Wherever  there  is  freedom,  there  must  be  political  agita- 
tion and  party  politics.  Earnest  men  will  engage  in  them 
earnestly ;  and,  whatever  may  be  the  watchwords  of  these 
parties,  the  real,  abiding,  and  essential  distinction  (so  far  as 
there  is  one  of  principle)  will  always  be  between  the  party 
of  progress  and  the  party  of  conservatism. 

At  all  times,  men  capable  of  reflection  must  be  aware 
that  either  of  these  may  go  too  far.  And  while  conserva- 
tism trusts  to  its  anchor  when  it  Avere  far  wiser  to  use  the 
sail,  and  strives  to  employ  the  life  and  strength  of  the  pres- 
ent in  the  vain  endeavor  to  keep  up  the  appearance  of  life 
in  the  dead  things  of  a  dead  past,  it  is  well  that  there  are 
those  who  love  progress  better  than  obstruction  and  decay, 
and  who  insist  that  the  garments  which  the  age  has  out- 
grown shall  not  cling  to  its  limbs  and  become  its  fetters. 
But  when  these  lovers  of  progress  threaten  in  their  wild 
career  to  shatter  the  foundations  of  law  and  peace  and  well- 
being,  all  safety  and  all  hope  will  depend  upon  the  strong 
men  who  can  arrest  and  curb  the  madness.  And  when  the 
vulgar  love  of  license  is  dignified  with  the  name  of  the  love 
of  liberty,  the  plague  can  be  stayed  only  by  the  minds  that 
perceive  and  the  lips  that  proclaim  that  order  is  the  indis- 
pensable condition  of  liberty,  and  its  only  safeguard  and  its 
best  friend. 

If  ever  a  man  valued  efficient  government  and  law, 
precedent  and  order,  my  father  did.  If  any  one  Avas  ever 
conservative,  he  AAras  so ;  but  (perhaps  because  I  sympathize 
with  him)  I  cannot  think  that  he  Avas  blindly  so. 

When  he  Avas  a  very  young  man,  and  the  conflicts  of  the 
Revolution  Avere  beginning,  he  hoped,  as  long  as  hope  Avas 
possible,  that  England  Avould  be  Avise  enough  to  permit  us  to 
be  free  as  a  part  of  the  British  empire,  equal  in  its  rights 
to  any  other  part.  He  could  not  be  unaffected  by  the  senti- 
ments, perhaps  the  advice,  of  TroAvbridge,  for  Avhom  he 
always  entertained  sincere  respect,  as  Aveil  as  profound 
gratitude.  He  Avould  not  yield  a  particle  of  our  liberties, 


/5 


38  MEMOIR  OF 

for  he  was  no  "  Tory  " ;  but  he  wished  to  secure  and  pre- 
serve them  with  the  least  possible  violence,  because  he  was 
a  conservative  Whig.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  wrote  the 
following  letter,  which  I  owe  to  the  kindness  of  the  Hon. 
Charles  S.  Daveis  of  Portland,  and  to  which  I  prefix,  by 
way  of  preface,  the  letter  which  Mr.  Daveis  wrote  to  me, 
when  he  sent  it. 

DEAR  SIR: 

Here  you  have  the  fulfilment  of  my  promise,  —  a  copy  of  the 
letter  from  your  venerated  father  to  John  Waite,  Esq.,  who  was 
for  a  long  time  within  my  own  remembrance  Sheriff  of  the 
County  of  Cumberland,  —  until,  I  believe,  his  death,  some  way 
within  the  present  century,  —  I  think  till  about  the  period  of 
the  last  war  with  England,  and  into  the  time  when  your  father 
used  to  visit  us  as  Chief  Justice  on  the  Eastern  Circuit,  when  the 
Court  used  to  dine  together  on  the  opening  day.  This  was  before 
my  coming  to  the  bar.  Under  what  different  circumstances  they 
met  from  those  which  existed  when  this  was  written,  and  when 
I  should  judge  their  conservative  sentiments  harmonized  pretty 
well! 

Was  not  your  father  at  that  period  pursuing  his  legal  studies  at 
Byfield  under  Judge  Trowbridge,  who,  I  believe,  did  not  make 
much  of  a  boast  of  his  regicide  descent  V  Colonel  Waite,  I  think, 
had  been  a  captain  under  Wolfe  at  Quebec,  but  was,  I  believe, 
native  among  us.  His  predecessor  in  the  office  of  Sheriff  was 
Colonel  William  Tyng  of  Gorham,  who  soon  became  a  refugee, 
and  returned  here  upon  the  peace. 

Accept  this  tardy  fulfilment,  and  believe  me,  dear  sir, 
Very  faithfully  yours, 

C.  S.  DAVEIS. 

To  PROFESSOR  PARSONS. 

TiiEomiLus  PARSONS  TO  JOHN  WAITK,  ESQ. 

Byfield,  12  March,  1770. 
SIR: 

I  received  yours  by  Harry,  who  is  now  at  school  and  pursues 
his  studies  with  great  application.  Mr.  Moody  informs  me  he 
finds  him  a  very  sensible,  intelligent  boy,  who  discovers  not  only  a 
capacity,  but  a  disposition,  to  improve  his  time  well.  He  appears 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  39 

quite  easy  at  the  school,  and  tells  me  he  has  no  inclination  to 
return  home.  I  shall  be  pleased  with  his  being  at  the  school,  not 
only  for  his  sake,  but  for  my  own,  if  I  should  thereby  have  an 
opportunity  to  oblige  you  by  serving  him.  If  I  can  promote 
either  your  interest  or  Harry's,  I  assure  you  I  will  do  it  with 
great  cheerfulness. 

To  answer  your  inquiry,  why  you  have  not  heard  anything 
from  me,  —  it  was  because  there  was  nothing  respecting  myself 
worth  writing  ;  and  as  for  public  affairs,  as  everybody  knew  what 
I  knew,  I  could  tell  you  nothing.  I  am  sorry  for  the  present  situa- 
tion of  Falrnotith.  Some  designing  men  amongst  you  have  over- 
shot their  mark,  and  are  now  receiving  the  reward  of  their  own 
doings.  I  should  be  resigned  to  the  dispensation,  if  the  innocent 
did  not  suffer  with  the  guilty.  I  can  acquit  you  of  being  an 
author  of  the  troubles  of  the  town.  I  now  please  myself  that  the 
aspect  of  our  public  affairs  is  a  little  brighter.  I  believe  we  shall 
have  commissioners  to  try  to  settle  the  dispute.  Most  of  the 
people  here  are  sick  of  it,  and  would  gladly  terminate  it,  if  left  to 
their  own  judgment.  I  am  apprehensive  some  difficulties  will 
arise  about  the  mode  of  negotiation.  But  what  prudent  man 
would  quarrel  about  forms  and  ceremonies,  either  in  religion  or 
politics,  if  he  could  but  attain  the  end  by  securing  his  salvation, 
especially  if  he  should  by  such  quarrels  finally  miscarry  ?  As  the 
present  plan  seems  to  be  not  to  treat  with  the  Congress,  the  high 
Whigs  say,  Then  we  will  not  treat  at  all. 

The  moderate  Whigs  (whom  I  look  upon  to  be  the  best  patriots 
among  us)  are  of  a  different  opinion.  They  say,  first,  that  a  nego- 
tiation is  absolutely  necessary,  for  the  Ministry  have  put  some  of 
our  best  friends  in  the  commission,  for  two  reasons ;  —  one,  to 
induce  us  to  settle  the  matter ;  the  other,  that,  if  we  will  hear  no 
terms,  the  mouth  of  opposition  at  home  will  be  stopped,  and  the 
whole  nation  united  in  the  Ministers'  measures,  and  a  vigorous 
prosecution  of  the  war  maintained.  As  to  the  mode  of  negotia- 
tion, they  say  the  different  Colonies  need  not  proceed  a  step  with- 
out the  directions  of  the  Congress. 

It  will  be  immaterial  to  the  commissioners  whose  advice  we  take 
in  forming  the  terms  of  accommodation,  and  though  the  several 
Provinces  will  be  the  ostensible  parties  in  the  negotiations,  yet 
in  fact  the  real  party  will  be  the  Congress,  and  every  end  as 
effectually  answered  as  it  would  be  if  the  Congress  were  an  osten- 


40  MEMOIR  OF 

sible  party.  They  say  further,  that  some  of  the  Southern  Colonies 
begin  to  cool.  They  look  upon  the  Northern  ones  with  a  jealous 
eye.  Their  members  have  openly  charged  us  with  mercenary 
views  in  commencing  and  prosecuting  the  war  ;  that  we  have 
raised  the  prices  of  everything,  and  exerted  ourselves  to  make  the 
support  of  the  war  as  expensive  as  possible,  that  the  money  and 
wealth  of  the  continent  might  centre  with  us ;  and  that  our  real 
plan  is  independence,  though  we  have  not  yet  avowed  it.  These 
charges,  though  groundless,  are  alarming ;  for  an  ill-founded  opin- 
ion will  have  the  same  influence  on  those  who  believe  it  that  a 
well-founded  one  will.  The  consequence  of  this  reasoning  is,  that 
there  will  be  danger  of  the  Southern  Colonies  securing  good  terms 
and  deserting  us.  If  that  should  be  the  case,  the  vindictive  spirit 
of  the  Ministry  will  be  gratified  by  making  the  Northern  Prov- 
inces pay  the  reckoning. 

I  give  you  this  reasoning  without  giving  you  my  own  opinion. 
Judge  thou.  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  many  of  our  present 
leaders  will  oppose  any  accommodation ;  and  sonic  would  choose 
rather  to  support  the  war  alone,  than  accept  any.  Mr.  J.  Adams 
declared  his  zeal  for  carrying  on  hostilities,  if  New  York  would 
adhere  to  us,  without  the  assistance  of  the  Southern  Colonies. 
Many  others,  who  have  not  half  his  abilities  or  honesty,  are  of  the 
same  opinion.  There  are  so  many  mushrooms  sprung  up,  got 
into  place,  and  now  have  the  rule  over  us,  they  would  exert  them- 
selves to  prolong  their  authority.  Can  you  think  that  Major- 
General  —  -  would  cheerfully  be  metamorphosed  into  Sam 
—  ?  or  that  the  disinterested  patriot,  Samuel  —  — ,  Esq., 
member  for  Falmouth,  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Register  of  Probate,  Clerk  of  the  Inferior  Court,  Clerk  of  the 
Sessions,  and  one  of  his  Majesty's  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  the 
County  of  Cumberland,  would  willingly  quit  all  his  honors,  all  his 
importance,  and  all  his  profits,  and  again  dwindle  down  to  insig- 
nificance, and  potash  ?  I  could  cover  a  sheet  of  paper  with  a  long 
string  of  &c.'s.  I  do  not  mean  to  insinuate  that  all  the  gentlemen 
who  have  had  appointments  arc  of  this  stamp.  Many  of  them  are 
possessed  of  abilities  and  integrity,  and  may  they  long  continue  in 
their  present  offices.  Never  had  ,1  member  of  the  House  so  great 
an  opportunity  ef  serving  the  Province  as  he  will  have  next 
summer. 

I  wish  to  God  the  several  towns  in   the  Province  would  be 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  41 

extremely  cautious  in  their  next  elections,  and  return  none  but 
men  capable  and  disposed  to  pursue  the  true  interest  of  their  con- 
stituents. Many  new  faces  I  hope  to  see,  and  some  old  ones. 
Every  gentleman  qualified  for  the  trust  ought  to  stand  forward,  — 
ought  to  speak  and  act  his  sentiments.  Arduous  will  be  the  task, 
but  great  will  be  the  reward,  if  the  blessings  of  the  country  are 
a  great  reward.  I  have  particular  reference  to  you,  sir.  You 
ought  to  stand  forward ;  to  make  interest  to  go  yourself,  instead  of 
your  present  member.  You  have  seen  and  felt  enough  to  con- 
vince you  of  the  impropriety  of  sending  him  again.  I  do  not 
mean  to  flatter  you.  I  suppose  others  are  as  capable  as  you  are  ; 
but  they  have  not  interest  sufficient  to  carry  an  election.  You 
have. 

If  I  was  at  Falmouth,  I  should  exert  myself  to  get  you  chosen. 
And  if  you  refused  to  go  on  account  of  your  private  interest,  I 

should  think  you  ought  to  be  given  up  to  Satan  or  Sam 

to  be  buffeted.  Do  tell  Mr.  E.  Ilsley  what  I  have  said  upon  the 
subject.  I  rely  upon  it,  I  should  have  his  opinion  with  me  ;  and 
he  and  the  other  friends  to  the  town  could  procure  your  election 
•without  your  appearing  in  it. 

If  the  present  plan  of  accommodation  shall  miscarry,  I  shall 
tremble  for  my  country.  But  if  the  present  union  shall  continue 
indissoluble,  1  have  great  hopes  we  shall  finally  disappoint  the 
malice  of  our  enemies,  and  hand  to  posterity  that  blessing  of 
liberty  which  our  ancestors  bequeathed  to  us.  But  if  the  same 
legacy  can  be  transmitted  without  risking  the  prosecution  of  a 
civil  war,  who  but  villains  will  run  the  risk  ?  I  expect  you  will  be 
at  By  field  soon,  to  see  Harry,  and  I  should  be  very  glad  to  wait 
on  you  at  my  father's,  when  you  come  this  way.  If  you  have 
anything  curious  at  Falmouth,  do  hand*it  along. 

Please  to  give  my  compliments  to  Mrs.  Waite  and  to  your 
family,  especially  to  Mr.  Bille. 

Your  humble  servant, 

THEOPH.  PARSOXS. 

This  letter  shows  his  conservatism  very  plainly  ;  and 
perhaps  it  indicates  the  influence  of  Trowbridge.  At  a 
later  period,  when  it  became  certain  that  our  liberties  could 
be  preserved  only  by  establishing  our  independence,  no  one 
was  more  decided  than  .he.  My  good  grandfather,  who 


42  MEMOIR  OF 

dearly  loved  and  carefully  preserved  the  calm  regularity  of 
his  retired  and  peaceful  life,  became  thoroughly  aroused  at 
last,  as  the  sermon  from  which  we  have  already  quoted 
indicates,  and  entered  with  enthusiasm  into  the  great  pur- 
poses and  struggles  of  the  day ;  and  all  his  family  were  with 
him,  and  no  one  of  them  more  decidedly  than  my  father. 
The  following  letter  of  my  grandfather  gives  some  indica- 
tion of  this.  It  was  written  two  years  before,  to  my  father 
at  Cambridge,  where,  for  a  short  time,  he  had  a  few  pupils  ; 
which  I  neglected  to  mention  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

MOSES  PARSONS  TO  THEOPIIILUS  PARSONS. 

Byficld,  June  17,  1774. 
Mi  FILI: 

Yours  of  the  6th  instant  lies  before  me ;  in  answer  I  say,  that 
according  as  you  have  stated  your  circumstances,  your  tarrying  at 
or  leaving  of  College  the  summer  vacation  will  depend  upon  the 
fate  of  your  pupils.  If  you  are  at  liberty  to  come  to  Bylield,  I 
should  be  very  glad  to  see  you  here.  Perhaps  you  ma}-  procure 
a  horse  at  an  easy  rate  at  this  present  time,  or  may  borrow  one  of 
your  pupils'  parents ;  or,  if  you  can  procure  a  conveyance  here, 
you  may  have  my  horse,  as  occasion  shall  require.  As  to  the 
Commencement,  the  College,  or  the  governors  of  it,  have  acted 
prudently,  considering  how  gloomy  the  day  is.  As  to  our  public 
affairs,  I  have  more  to  say  than  time  or  paper  will  allow.  We  are, 
be  sure,  severely,  I  may  say  barbarously  and  cruelly,  dealt  with. 
But  if  we  were  all  united,  I  should  not  give  all  up  as  desperate. 
We  can  live  without  Great  Britain  as  well  as  they  can  without 
us.  I  was  in  hopes  the  trial  would  not  be  made  these  thirty  years, 
till  we  had  doubled  the  number  of  inhabitants,  and  so  could  put  a 
greater  weight  into  the  opposite  scale.  Our  Southern  Colonies 
are  united  to  help  us,  and  it  is  only  keeping  the  storm  from  break- 
ing on  them.  I  say  it  again,  a  union  among  ourselves,  (under 
God,)  I  make  no  doubt,  would  prove  our  strength,  safety,  and 
salvation.  The  measures  of  administration  arc  alarming  ;  they 
leave  no  room  for  repentance  ;  and  if  they  should  go  on  as  they 
have  begun,  we  have  no  property  or  privilege,  civil  or  religious, 
that  we  can  call  our  own  ;  for  if  there  is  no  confidence  in  royal 
faith,  we  see  there  is  no  dependence  on  administration  when  the 


CHIEF  JUSTICE   PARSONS.  43 

times  arc  so  corrupt.  I  should  not  have  said  anything  about  poli- 
tics, for  I  could  but  begin  to  begin,  and  so  must  leave  off,  and 
perhaps  may  not  have  said  anything  that  will  afford  satisfaction. 
May  Infinite  Wisdom  direct,  Divine  Goodness  support  us,  and 
Divine  Power  effect  our  salvation.  The  Lord  reigneth,  and  his 
counsel  shall  stand. 

They  are  well  at  Dummer  School.  Mrs.  Moody  has  been  very 
ill,  but  is  better.  Mr.  Gray  is  with  us  as  a  tutor  to  your  sisters. 
Polly  is  in  her  Accidence  ;  Gorham  in  his  Testament,  and  looking 
forward  to  his  Bible.  We  depend  upon  seeing  you,  if  your  cir- 
cumstances will  allow  it.  Your  grandmother  is  at  Cape  Ann. 
We  are  well,  and  the  whole  family  salute  you. 
Your  affectionate  parent, 

MOSES  PARSONS. 

It  will  be  remembered  by  those  of  my  readers  who 
are  acquainted  with  our  Revolutionary  history,  that  in  the 
beginning  of  1776  it  was  known  that  one  or  more  com- 
missioners would  be  sent  from  England,  to  propose  terms  of 
reconciliation  ;  and  it  was  quite  generally  hoped  that  these 
would  be  satisfactory.  Lord  Howe  did  indeed  come,  with 
authority  as  Commissioner  from  the  king,  and  offered  cer- 
tain terms.  But  he  did  not  arrive  until  after  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  and  his  terms  amounted  to  no  more 
than  submission  on  a  promise  of  pardon,  and  they  would 
not  have  been  accepted  at  any  time.  It  may  seem  strange, 
however,  that,  less  than  four  months  before  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  my  father  should  not  only  speak  of  the 
expected  commission  with  much  hope,  but  should  regard 
"  the  charge  "  "  that  our  real  plan  was  independence  "  as 
groundless.  But  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the 
expectation,  as  well  as  the  desire,  of  reconciliation  with  the 
mother  country,  upon  principles  which  should  preserve  all 
our  political  rights,  prevailed  extensively  throughout  the 
country,  almost  to  the  last  moment.  It  was  indeed  the 
measiu'es  and  declarations  of  the  British  Ministry  at  this 
very  time,  which  finally  compelled  the  Colonies  to  choose  at 
once  between  subjection  and  independence.  On  the  4th  of 


44  MEMOIR   OF 

July,  177G,  the  choice  was  made,  and  the  word  "  Colonies  " 
was  heard  no  more.  But  Washington,  in  a  letter  to  his 
brother,  written  at  Philadelphia  so  late  as  the  31st  of  May, 
1776,  more  than  two  months  after  this  letter  of  my  father's 
and  not  six  weeks  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
says  :  "  Many  members,  in  short  the  representation  of  whole 
Provinces,  are  still  feeding  themselves  upon  the  dainty  food 
of  reconciliation." 

This  letter  of  my  father  to  Mr.  Waite  seems  to  me  not 
without  its  historical  interest.  Its  testimony  to  the  honesty 
and  resolute  courage  of  John  Adams  is  something ;  and  the 
reference  to  the  South  and  the  North,  and  their  relations, 
is  not  without  its  significance.  I  have  never  seen  else- 
where any  distinct  allusion  to  the  possible  falling  away  of 
the  Southern  States  in  1776,  and  to  the  plan  at  that  time 
existing  in  some  minds,  of  the  Northern  States  alone  con- 
tinuing the  contest.  But  even  then  was  that  difference 
between  the  North  and  the  South  indicated,  which  has 
now  reached  far  greater  importance.  Then,  however,  the 
"  Free  Soil "  question  did  not  divide  between  them,  nor  any 
hostility  or  mutual  recrimination  about  slavery.  Nor  would 
this  be  sufficient  now  for  all  the  alienation  which  separates 
them,  if  there  were  not  a  foundation  for  it,  and  perhaps  for 
different  opinions  and  institutions  in  respect  to  slavery  itself, 
in  an  essential  difference  of  character.  The  South  and  the 
North  —  speaking  generally,  and  admitting  all  manner  of 
individual  exceptions  and  varieties  —  are  but  repeating  and 
continuing  that  old  distinction  between  the  Cavalier  and  the 
Puritan,  which  the  emigrants  to  this  country  brought  with 
them  from  England.  These  accidental  names  may  make  us 
forget  that  it  is  almost  as  old  and  almost  as  wide  as  human- 
ity, and  has  its  origin  in  the  depths  of  human  nature.  If  this 
were  the  place,  it  would  be  very  easy  to  show  that  the  dis- 
tinction is  one  which  has  often  appeared  in  history.  It  is 
only  that  between  those  who,  on  the  one  hand,  love  labor 
and  thrift,  and  individual  strength  and  independence,  and 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  45 

exactness  if  not  severity  of  belief,  profession,  and  life,  and, 
with  much  kindness  to  others,  habitually  look  out  with  skil- 
ful care  and  great  success  for  self,  —  and  those  who,  on 
the  other  hand,  love  to  enjoy  more  than  to  win  by  toil  the 
means  of  enjoyment,  care  more  for  power  than  for  money, 
love  class  distinctions  while  they  are  uppermost,  and  are 
liberal  and  lax  in  word  and  thought  to  others,  but  very 
especially  so  to  themselves.  That  the  negro  slave  stands 
in  antagonism  to  the  Dollar,  is  one  among  the  reasons  why 
there  are  no  slaves  in  the  North ;  that  he  stands  in  sub- 
serviency to  power,  and  feeds  his  master's  sense  of  author- 
ity and  command,  is  one  among  the  reasons  why  there  are 
slaves  in  the  South.  Wherever  in  history  men  of  either 
of  these  classes  are  gathered  together,  the  phenomenon 
puts  on  the  special  form  or  name  or  aspect  which  cer- 
tain circumstances  may  impart ;  but  it  is  an  old  thing,  after 
all.  It  is  much  the  same  thing  which  now  marks,  not  with 
hostility,  but  with  observable  difference,  the  South  and  the 
North  of  Europe.  And  it  is  the  old  difference  between  the 
Saxon  race,  of  which  the  Puritan  party  was  almost  wholly 
composed,  and  the  Normans,  to  whom  most  of  the  leading 
Cavaliers  traced  back  their  origin. 

I  venture  also  the  remark,  that  this  letter  would  hardly 
have  been  written  by  so  young  a  man,  for  he  was  then  but 
twenty-six  years  old,  —  I  mean,  that  he  would  not,  in  his 
obscure  retreat,  have  known  so  much  of  politics,  and  been 
so  urgent  and  active  in  his  advice  and  persuasion,  —  if  he 
had  not  already  acquired  some  position.  It  may  be  that  this 
letter  is  not,  of  itself,  sufficient  to  suggest  this  conclusion ; 
but  events  soon  occurred  to  prove  it. 

About  the  time  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the 
formation  of  a  Constitution  became  a  matter  of  much 
moment  in  many  of  the  Colonies,  which  had  just  become 
States.  In  Massachusetts  the  system  of  government  went 
on  with  few  alterations,  although  the  Charter  had  lost  all 
force.  In  June,  177G,  it  was  proposed  in  the  General 


46  MEMOIR  OF 

Court  to  prepare  a  form  of  government,  or  Constitution,  to 
be  presented  to  the  people.  It  was  thought  better,  how- 
ever, to  refer  the  subject  somewhat  more  directly  to  the 
people  ;  and  the  House  of  Representatives  recommended  to 
the  towns  to  empower  their  delegates  at  the  next  election  to 
frame  a  Constitution.  Many  towns,  perhaps  most,  complied 
with  this  request.  Early  in  1778  a  Constitution  was  agreed 
upon  by  the  General  Court,  and  offered  to  the  people  ;  and 
soon  after  rejected  by  them  by  a  vote  of  about  five  to  one. 

The  reasons  for  this  decisive  rejection  were,  first,  that 
the  draft  was  very  imperfect,  and  evidently  made  without 
due  care  and  consideration.  Xext,  that  the  people  preferred 
that  it  should  be  made,  not  by  a  legislature,  but  by  a  con- 
vention chosen  for  that  express  purpose.  Then,  that  there 
was  nothing  prefixed  in  the  nature  of  a  Bill  of  Rights,  de- 
fining and  declaring  the  fundamental  and  inalienable  rights 
of  the  citizens.  And  lastly,  the  proposed  Constitution  so 
carefully  avoided  a  strong  government,  that  the  Executive 
was  a  mere  cipher.  The  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor were  both  members  of  the  Senate  ;  and  the  twenty- 
second  section  contained  an  express  provision  that  '*  the 
Governor  shall  have  no  negative  as  Governor  in  any  matter 
pointed  out  by  the  Constitution  to  be  done  by  the  Governor 
and  Senate,  but  shall  have  an  equal  voice  with  any  Senator 
on  any  question  before  them." 

It  was  this  last  objection  which  weighed  most  with  many 
persons.  And  there  are  reasons  for  regarding  the  conflict 
on  the  forming  and  adoption  of  this  Constitution  as  a  very 
early  manifestation  that  a  new  question  was  brought  before 
the  minds  of  men,  and  submitted  to  their  decision,  which 
threatened,  or  seemed  to  threaten,  the  disruption  of  civil 
society,  and  has  continued  to  this  day  to  divide,  not  politi- 
cians only,  but  the  whole  people ;  and  will  ever  do  so.  This 
question  is  indeed  that  to  which  I  have  already  alluded  ;  it 
is,  which  shall  prevail  of  the  two  great  parties,  into  one  or 
the  other  of  which  every  man  is  forced,  by  nature,  habit, 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  47 

taste,  education,  or  circumstances.  These  are  the  parties 
of  progress  and  of  conservatism  ;  of  those  who  love  the 
"  largest  liberty,"  with  more  regard  to  its  quantity  than  its 
quality,  and  those  who  desire  only  the  best  liberty,  and 
dread,  as  the  greatest  of  evils,  its  corruption  into  license. 

To  all  men  of  this  last  class,  the  Constitution  offered  to 
the  people  was  wholly  worthless  ;  and  to  this  large  party 
my  father  belonged.  His  home  was  in  Essex  County  ;  and 
there  he  was  sustained  by  the  warm  sympathy  of  excellent 
men,  and  perhaps,  young  as  he  was,  strengthened  their  love 
of  order  or  their  fear  of  anarchy. 

A  meeting  of  these  men  took  place  in  Essex  County, 
early  in  1778.  By  whom  it  was  called,  or  by  whom 
attended,  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain.  It  originated 
in  Newburyport,  and  I  have  been  repeatedly  told  that  my 
father  began  it ;  but  I  have  no  evidence  of  this.  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  prepare  a  report  on  the  subjects 
which  the  convention  proposed  to  consider,  and  then  it 
adjourned  to  Ipswich  ;  and  there  it  met  in  the  last  week  of 
April  of  that  year,  when  a  term  of  the  Supreme  Judicial 
Court  was  held  there.  A  pamphlet  was  presented  by  the 
committee  at  this  adjourned  meeting,  and  approved  and 
adopted  by  the  convention,  and  by  their  order  published. 
It  contained  eighteen  distinct  articles,  in  which  were  very 
fully  stated  the  leading  objections  to  the  proposed  Constitu- 
tion. Its  long  title  was  :  "  The  Result  of  the  Convention  of 
Delegates  holden  at  Ipswich,  in  the  County  of  Essex,  who 
were  deputed  to  take  into  Consideration  the  Constitution 
and  Form  of  Government  proposed  by  the  Convention  of 
the  State  of  Massachusetts  Bay."  It  is  familiarly  known 
in  history  as  "  The  Essex  Result."  A  large  edition  was 
printed,  and  it  was  widely  circulated  ;  and  as  it  went  very 
fully  into  the  consideration  of  the  objects  and  principles 
which  should  be  regarded  in  the  formation  of  a  constitution, 
it  not  only  made  the  rejection  of  the  proposed  Constitution 
far  more  decisive,  but  exerted  an  important  influence  on  the 


48  MEMOIR  OF 

structure  of  that  Constitution  which  was  soon  afterwards 
framed  by  a  State  convention,  and  adopted  by  the  people. 

This  pamphlet,  which  is  now  very  rare,  I  reprint  in  the 
Appendix ;  because  my  father  wrote  it,  and  also  because  it 
seems  to  me  to  be  worth  reprinting  for  its  own  sake.  As 
the  Essex  Result  it  had  a  wide  celebrity  in  its  day,  and 
was  one  of  the  grounds  —  perhaps  the  chief  one  —  for  that 
nickname  of  "  The  Essex  Junto,"  which  Mr.  Hancock 
afterwards  fastened  upon  my  father  and  his  companions  ; 
a  name  of  which  he  was  as  proud  as  it  was  in  his  nature 
to  be  of  any  political  distinction ;  and  he  held  on  to  it  to  the 
end  of  his  life. 

No  doubt  he  obtained  all  the  assistance,  by  advice  and 
suggestion,  which  could  be  rendered  to  him  in  a  matter  of 
this  importance,  by  the  wise  men  with  whom  he  acted.  But 
he  wrote  every  word  of  it ;  and  this,  I  think,  proves  that 
the  young  man  was  already  recognized  by  them,  who  were 
certainly  among  the  ablest  and  most  venerable  men  of  the 
country,  as  one  with  whose  work  they  were  satisfied,  and 
one  whom  they  could  trust  to  speak  for  them. 

For  proof  that  he  Avrote  this  pamphlet,  I  do  not  trust 
to  family  tradition  and  evidence,  but  might  refer  to  the 
declarations  of  many  who  knew  it.  I  need,  however,  only 
quote  the  direct  assertion  of  Chief  Justice  Isaac  Parker. 
He  says,  in  his  address  to  the  Grand  Jury,  after  my  father's 
death :  "  The  Report  was  undoubtedly  his,  though  he  was 
probably  aided  by  others,  at  least  with  their  advice.  This 
elaborate  Report  is  called  '  The  Essex  Result.' " 

I  have,  however,  still  further  evidence.  The  original 
documents  of  the  convention  are  now  lying  before  me. 
That  they  were  placed  in  my  father's  possession  is  an  indi- 
cation of  his  prominence  in  the  body.  But  it  seems  that 
the  movement  (as  has  been  said)  not  only  began  in  Xew- 
buryport,  but  that  my  father  was  the  first  person  named 
among  the  delegates  from  that  town,  although  the  youngest. 
The  following  paper  is  in  his  handwriting,  and  certified  to 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  49 

be  a  copy  of  record ;  and  from  other  memoranda  I  infer 
that  the  votes  were  of  his  drafting. 

At  a  legal  meeting  of  tlie  freeholders  and  other  inhabitants  of 
the  town  of  Newburyport,  by  law  qualified  to  vote  in  town  affairs, 
held  March  27th,  1778  : 

Voted,  This  town  are  of  opinion  that  the  mode  of  representa- 
tion contained  in  the  Constitution  lately  proposed  by  the  Con- 
vention of  this  State  is  unequal  and  unjust,  as  thereby  all  the 
inhabitants  of  this  State  are  not  equally  represented,  and  that 
some  other  parts  of  the  same  Constitution  are  not  founded  on 
the  true  principles  of  government ;  and  that  a  convention  of  the 
several  towns  of  this  county,  by  their  delegates,  will  have  a  prob- 
able tendency  to  reform  the  same,  agreeably  to  the  natural  rights 
of  mankind  and  the  true  principles  of  government. 

Voted,  That  the  Selectmen  be  desired,  on  behalf  and  in  the 
name  of  this  town,  to  write  circular  letters  to  the  several  towns 
within  this  county,  proposing  a  Convention  of  those  towns  by 
their  delegates,  to  be  held  at  such  time  and  place  as  the  Selects 
men  shall  think  proper  to  mention  in  said  circular-letters;  and 
that  the  Selectmen  be  directed  in  said  circular-letters  to  propose 
to  each  of  the  knvns  aforesaid  to  send  the  like  number  of  dele- 
gates to  said  Convention  as  the  same  towns  have,  by  law,  right  to 
send  Representatives  to  the  General  Court. 

Voted,  To  choose  five  delegates  for  the  Convention  aforesaid, 
viz.  Theophilus  Parsons,  Tristram  Dalton,  Jonathan  Greenleaf, 
Jonathan  Jackson,  and  Stephen  Cross,  Esquires. 

A  true  copy  from  the  minutes. 

Attest:  NIC.  PIKE,  Town  Clerk. 

I  have  also  a  draft  of  resolutions,  apparently  intended  for 
consideration,  and  nearly  the  same  as  were  adopted,  of  which 
nine  are  in  my  father's  handwriting,  and  two  in  that  of  some 
other  person. 

The  following  document  gives  a  list  of  the  twenty-seven 
persons  constituting  the  Convention  at  Ipswich  : 

Salem.  —  Mr.   Richard  Ward,  Mr.  Jona.   Andrews,  Mr.  Benj. 
Goodhue,  Jr.,    Capt.    Saml.   Flagg,    Mr.    Nathan 
Goodale.  and  Joseph  Sprague,  Esq. 
4 


50  MEMOIR  OF 

Danvers.  —  Mr.   Gideon  Putnam  and  Capt.  William  Shillaber. 

Ipswich.  —  Gen.  Farley,  Jona.  Cogswell,  Esq.,  and  Daul.  Noyes. 

Newbury.  — 

Newburyport.  —  Theoph.  Parsons,  Tristram  Dalton,  Jona.  Green- 
leaf,  Jona.  Jackson,  and  Stephen  Cross,  Es- 
quires. 

Marblehead.  — 

Lynn.  —  Mr.  Samuel  Burrill. 

Andover.  — 

Beverly.  — 

Rowley.  — 

Salisbury.  —  Hon.  Caleb  Gushing,  Esq. 

Haverhill.  — 

Gloucester.  —  Peter  Coffin,  Esq.,  Saml.  Whittemore,  Esq.,  and 
Mr.  James  Porter. 

Topsfield.  —  Dea.  John  Gould  and  Mr.  Israel  Clarke,  Jr. 

Amesbury.  — 

Bradford.  — 

Wenhaui.  —  Mr.  Stephen  Dodge. 

Manchester.  —  Capt.  William  Tuck. 

Methuen.  — Mr.  John  Huse. 

Boxforcl.  — John  Gushing,  Esq.,  Mr.  Benja.  Perley. 

Middleton.  — 

Then  follows  a  document  which  purports  to  be  a  Record 
of  the  Convention  ;  but  only  two  half-sheets  remain.  These 
contain  many  "  votes,"  of  which  three  are  in  my  father's 
handwriting  ;  and  the  last  of  these  (and  the  last  but  one 
which  passed  at  that  meeting)  was  : 

"  Voted,  That  the  thirty-fourth  article  is  exceptionable, 
because  the  rights  of  conscience  are  not  therein  defined  and 
ascertained  ;  and  further,  because  the  free  exercise  and 
enjoyment  of  religious  profession  and  worship  are  there  said 
to  be  allowed  to  all  the  Protestants  in  the  State,  when  in 
fact  that  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  is  the  natural  and 
incontrollable  right  of  every  member  of  the  State." 

I  cannot  persuade  myself  to  deal  severely  with  the  fancy 
that  the  blood  of  Robinson  of  Leyden  speaks  in  this  last 
vote. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS,  51 

The  Record  closes  thus  : 

"  Voted,  That  Mr.  Parsons,  Mr.  Goodale,  and  Mr.  Put- 
nam be  a  committee  to  attempt  to  ascertain  the  true  prin- 
ciples of  government  ;  to  state  the  non-conformity  of  the 
Constitution  prepared  by  the  Convention  of  this  State  to 
those  principles ;  and  to  delineate  the  outlines  of  a  Con- 
stitution conformable  thereto ;  and  report  the  same  to  this 
body." 

Judge  White  of  Salem,  whose  every  word  carries  with 
it  the  weight  of  certain  testimony,  to  all  who  know  him, 
speaks  to  me,  in  a  recent  letter,  of  "  the  famous  Essex 

Result, in  which  your  father  so  admirably  exposed 

the  crude  system  first  proposed  in  1778,  and  explained  the 
true  principles  of  a  republican  government,"  &c.  I  would 
add,  that  the  committee  appointed  to  draft  the  Report,  and 
from  which  it  came,  contained,  besides  my  father,  only  two 
gentlemen,  who  were  not  writers,  and  could  not  have  con- 
tributed to  the  Report  more  than  advice.  Indeed,  it  would 
naturally  fall  to  my  father,  as  chairman  of  the  committee, 
to  prepare  this  Report ;  and  in  doing  it,  a  reader  of  the 
"  Result "  will  see  that  he  followed  exactly  the  direction  of 
the  vote. 

I  may  exaggerate  the  interest  and  the  importance  of  this 
Essex  Convention  and  Result  ;  and  shall  undoubtedly  be 
thought  to  do  so  by  those  who  regard  the  whole  matter  as 
an  old-world  story.  But  it  seems  to  me  to  have  some 
claim  to  consideration,  even  in  the  present  day. 

Among  the  most  distinguishing  peculiarities  of  the  actual 
institutions  and  government  of  this  country  is  the  singular 
blending  of  the  progressive  and  conservative  principles,  in 
such  a  way  that  they  do  not  so  much  neutralize  each 
other,  as  promote  each  other's  activity,  while  they  com- 
pensate for  each  other.  Indeed,  I  am  persuaded  that  this 
will  be  regarded  hereafter  as  a  most  remarkable  instance  of 
the  far-sighted  sagacity  of  our  fathers.  Coming  generations 
may  perhaps  see  in  it  the  effect  of  that  mysterious  princi- 
ple of  compensation,  always  so  powerful  in  the  business  of 


52  MEMOIR   OF 

this  world.  The  ages  and  the  nations  move  in  a  vast  pro- 
cession ;  and  to  this  movement  every  one  contributes.  Any 
man  may  influence,  but  no  man  can  exclusively  direct  or 
control  this  movement  ;  because,  let  him  do  or  be  what  he 
may,  some  one  or  many  Avill  be  doing  or  being  that  which 
will  tend  at  least  to  restore  the  equilibrium  with  greater  or 
less  exactness.  Since  Franklin's  day,  it  has  been  known 
that  no  particle  of  positive  electricity  can  be  excited,  with- 
out instantly  exciting  an  equal  particle  of  negative  elec- 
tricity. This  law  may  at  least  illustrate  the  analogous  law 
which  is  putting  in  its  claim  to  be  considered  by  the  student 
of  human  conduct  and  character.  While  our  fathers  were 
making  history,  there  were  some  whose  love  for  liberty  had 
degenerated  into  a  love  of  license,  and  whose  idea  of  happi- 
ness it  was  to  run  riot  through  the  fields  of  life  ;  and  they 
balanced  and  checked,  and  were  balanced  and  checked  by, 
the  stern  lovers  of  order,  who  appeared,  in  their  extremity 
of  opinion,  to  think  that  the  first  use  of  legs  is  to  Avear 
fetters,  while  walking  is  but  a  secondary  and  conditional 
purpose.  Happily,  there  were  wise  men  who  were  able  to 
bring  these  extremes  into  compromise,  and,  by  means  of 
compromise,  into  union. 

Nothing  wiser  can  be  done  than  to  seek,  in  all  the  ques- 
tions and  exigencies  of  life,  that  middle  point  of  rest  in 
which  extremes  meet,  and  towards  which  extremes  compel 
each  other  to  tend.  And  the  same  law  governs  the  well- 
being  of  a  State.  When  our  fathers  were  called  upon  to 
construct  the  Constitutions  of  this  country,  the  necessity  of 
discovering  and  establishing  this  equilibrium  was  felt  by 
them.  It  came  in  a  new  form,  and  on  a  scale  of  un- 
precedented grandeur  and  importance.  It  was  a  work  for 
which  human  experience  had  learned  but  little,  and  could 
teach  but  little.  The  problem  was  to  reconcile  and  com- 
bine that  absolute  liberty,  which  for  the  first  time  a  nation 
imperatively  demanded,  with  those  restraints  and  guards, 
without  which  freedom  must  perish  as  soon  as  it  is  born. 
The  time  had  come  when  liberty  and  order,  each  helping 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PAESONS.  53 

the  other,  and  each  preserving  the  other,  were  to  be  com- 
bined and  interfused  into  one,  that  the  consummate  flower 
of  all  history  might  open  upon  a  rejoicing  world.  This 
work  was  given,  in  good  part  at  least,  for  men  to  do.  And 
I  have  been  led,  whether  on  sufficient  evidence  others  must 
judge,  to  regard  the  Essex  Result  as  a  very  early  encounter 
with  the  great  question  then  dawning  upon  this  country  and 
upon  the  world.  It  was  an  earnest  endeavor  to  discover 
and  declare  how  progress  and  conservatism,  liberty  and 
order,  might  be  so  adjusted  in  human  institutions,  that 
freedom  should  be  secure,  and  peace  and  happiness  be 
the  children  of  freedom.  I  think  I  find  in  this  document 
the  leading  principles  by  which  all  Avise  efforts  to  answer 
this  question  practically  have  been  and  are  likely  to  be 
guided.  It  seems  to  me  that  a  comparison  of  this  document 
with  history  gives  me  evidence  enough  —  aside  from  the 
testimony  of  individuals  • —  that  the  principles  herein  stated 
exerted  much  influence  in  moulding  the  first  Constitution 
of  this  State,  and  others  also  so  far  as  they  have  copied 
this,  and  in  making  them  the  excellent  instruments  that 
they  were  for  this  great  good.  And  it  was  a  problem 
which  could  be  solved  only  by  a  careful  consideration  of 
many  facts  and  principles  and  probabilities,  and  by  a  far- 
penetrating  insight  into  the  laws  of  human  character  and 
action. 

It  is  probable  that  this  Essex  Result  will  have  but 
little  interest  to  most  readers  now,  for  the  reason  that  it 
will  seem  to  them  familiar  and  commonplace  ;  so  much 
so,  indeed,  that  my  commendation  must  seem  extravagant. 
But  if  its  reasoning  or  its  conclusions  have  this  aspect,  it  is 
only  because  of  their  general  adoption  as  the  true  principles 
of  republican  government.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
they  are  here  stated  fully,  clearly,  and  systematically,  with- 
out the  aid  of  our  experience.  So  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  learn,  the  Avhole  country  had  been  so  busy  with 
the  labor  and  the  conflict  which  had  won  the  possibility 


54  MEMOIR  OF 

of  republicanism,  that  few  minds  of  sufficient  capacity  had 
been  turned  to  the  practical  question,  When  this  becomes 
possible,  how  shall  the  foundations  be  laid,  how  shall 
the  structure  be  built  ?  And  that  which  gives  to  this 
pamphlet  its  value  and  interest  in  my  estimation,  is  my 
belief  that  it  was  an  answer  to  this  question,  remarkably 
complete  and  accurate,  very  generally  accepted  by  the 
people  of  this  State,  and  to  a  considerable  extent  beyond 
our  boundaries,  as  the  true  answer  ;  and  therefore  con- 
stantly reproduced  in  the  constitutions  which  were  after- 
wards formed.  And  these  same  principles  are  now  so 
universally  admitted,  at  least  in  theory,  that  they  seem  to 
be  self-evident,  and  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  there  was  a 
time  when  they  were  unknown. 

To  this  there  is  one  exception.  The  reader  of  this 
pamphlet  will  perceive  that  my  father  insists  very  strongly 
that  power  should  be  given,  not  to  mere  numbers  alone,  but 
that,  for  some  purposes,  property  should  so  far  be  permitted 
to  have  its  representation  and  its  influence,  that  it  might 
at  least  have  some  check  upon  measures  which  directly 
affected  itself.  The  first  Constitution  of  Massachusetts  so 
far  adopted  this  principle,  that,  while  the  Kepresentatives 
were  chosen  on  a  basis  of  numbers  alone,  the  Senators 
were  chosen  on  a  compound  basis  of  numbers  and  amount 
of  taxation.  And  in  other  of  our  early  Constitutions  some 
influence  of  the  same  principle  may  be  discerned.  All  this 
has  passed  away,  by  amendments,  or  by  changes  which 
are  called  amendments.  The  unanimity  with  which  this 
has  been  done,  should  perhaps  be  taken  for  proof  of  its 
propriety.  Perhaps,  however,  time  will  show,  not  to  us, 
but  to  some  distant  generation,  that  this  principle  was 
founded  upon  truth  and  essential  justice ;  that,  if  it  had  not 
been  wisely  applied,  an  improvement  on  this  point  should 
have  been  sought ;  but  that  its  entire  abandonment  took 
from  the  edifice  of  our  legal  liberty  one  of  those  foundations 
which  were  indispensable  to  its  stability. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  55 

I  do  not  pretend  that  this  document  was  perfect,  in  its 
rhetoric,  or  its  logic,  or  its  political  theories  ;  but,  such  as  it 
was,  I  draw  from  it  the  inference  that  my  father,  even  then, 
in  his  youth,  was  thought  by  the  wise  and  good  of  his  day 
to  be  one  of  their  number  ;  and,  while  I  write  this  because 
it  seems  to  me  to  be  true,  no  one  can  know  better  than 
I  know,  that  the  opinion  I  express  may  be  but  one  more 
of  the  many  examples  which  show  that  a  son  can  never 
judge  accurately  of  his  father's  character. 

Although  this  Constitution  proposed  by  the  Legislature 
was  thus  opprobriously  rejected,  the  need  of  one  was  uni- 
versally acknowledged.  A  Convention  was  called,  and  met 
at  Cambridge,  in  September,  1779,  to  frame  a  Constitu- 
tion ;  and  a  committee  was  soon  appointed  to  draft  one.  It 
consisted  of  twenty-six  persons,  who  were  selected  from  the 
counties,  —  from  a  few  only  one,  from  others  two,  from  none 
more  than  three.  In  the  enumeration  of  this  committee, 
James  Bowdoin  (the  President  of  the  Convention),  John 
Adams,  and  John  Lowell,  all  of  Suffolk  County,  are  first 
named.  Then  follow  Theophilus  Parsons,  Jonathan  Jack- 
son, and  Samuel  Phillips,  Jr.,  from  Essex  ;  and  then  the 
members  from  the  other  counties.  If  the  list  of  delegates  is 
read,  it  will  be  thought,  perhaps,  of  some  significance,  that 
on  this  the  principal  committee  of  the  Convention,  after  the 
members  from  Suffolk  County,  (then  as  since  entitled  by 
usage  to  priority  in  the  list,)  my  father  was  first  named, 
being  selected  before  the  many  older  men  of  Essex  who 
were  already  distinguished  and  influential  persons  ;  and, 
although  then  but  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  he  was  thus 
placed  at  their  head. 

At  a  later  period  in  the  Convention,  a  committee  of  four, 
Samuel  Adams,  John  Pickering,  Caleb  Strong,  and  William 
Gushing,  none  of  whom  was  on  the  former  committee, 
were  directed  to  draw  a  Constitution  and  Bill  of  Rights. 
This  was  adopted  by  the  Convention,  after  some  discussion 
and  amendment,  and  accepted  by  the  people. 


56  MEMOIR  OF 

Whether  my  father  had  any  particular  share  in  the 
preparation  of  this  Constitution,  I  do  not  know.  It  was 
drafted  by  John  Adams,  principally.  In  former  years,  some 
who  have  now  gone  have  pointed  to  me  this  or  that  clause 
or  provision,  and  said  that  it  was  due  to  my  father.  But  I 
remember  these  references  imperfectly,  and  doubt  whether 
the  statements  were  made  to  me  on  certain  or  sufficient 
knowledge.  Perhaps  the  most  direct  authority  on  the  point 
is  Chief  Justice  Parker,  who,  in  his  Address,  says  :  "  Many 
of  the  most  important  articles  of  the  Constitution  were  of 
his  draft ;  and  those  provisions  which  were  most  essential, 
though  least  palatable,  such  as  dignity  and  power  to  the 
Executive,  independence  to  the  Judiciary,  and  a  separation 
of  the  branches  of  the  Legislative  departments,  were  sup- 
ported by  him  with  all  the  power  of  argument  and  elo- 
quence." 

For  the  next  ten  years  I  know  nothing  of  my  father's 
political  life.  lie  Avas  busy  in  his  profession,  providing  for 
the  wants  of  an  increasing  family,  and  employing  his  leisure 
in  the  studies  and  recreations  which  he  loved.  But  I  am 
certain  that  he  was  doing  all  that  could  be  done  by  the 
explicit  declaration  of  his  own  opinions,  whenever  that  was 
proper,  to  strengthen  in  the  Commonwealth  the  love  of 
legal  liberty,  rather  than  the  love  of  liberty  without  re- 
straint or  order  or  security.  And  soon  the  time  came  for 
determining  whether  such  views  as  he  held,  or  their  oppo- 
sites,  prevailed  in  the  Commonwealth. 

The  Old  Confederation  of  the  United  States  was  formed, 
November  loth,  1777,  in  the  midst  of  war  and  danger  and 
effort ;  and  while  these  lasted,  their  pressure  kept  it  to- 
gether. But  with  the  relaxation  of  peace,  its  debility  and 
insufficiency  became  apparent.  There  was  a  general  sense 
of  its  inadequacy  to  (lie  wants  of  the  country.  None  de- 
fended it,  or  were  satisfied  with  it.  And  Shavs's  Rebellion 
in  17bG,  and  other  things  of  like  kind,  though  differing  in 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  57 

form  or  in  degree,  led  to  a  general  conclusion  that  a  new 
Constitution  was  necessary. 

A  Convention  of  Delegates  from  the  States  assembled,  for 
the  purpose  of  framing  a  Federal  Constitution,  at  Phila- 
delphia, in  May,  1787  ;  and  at  once  the  new  parties  of 
the  country,  the  Liberty  party  and  the  Government  party, 
started  into  full  life.  The  Convention  had  many  difficul- 
ties ;  and  that  which  sprung  from  the  existence  of  slavery 
in  some  of  the  States  and  not  in  others,  was  an  impor- 
tant one.  But  a  reader  of  the  debates,  especially  if  he 
bring  to  this  study  any  knowledge  of  contemporary  history, 
cannot  fail  to  see  that  the  one  great  question,  how  much 
or  how  little  power  should  be  given  to  the  government,  and 
how  far  this  power  should  be  checked  on  the  one  hand, 
or  on  the  other  left  untrammelled,  underlay  every  other. 

Hamilton  perhaps,  and  soon,  if  not  at  first,  led  the  party 
of  strong  government.  It  is  asserted  that  at  one  period  he 
openly  avowed  his  want  of  faith  in  the  worth  or  possible 
perpetuity  of  republicanism,  but  agreed  that  the  circum- 
stances of  the  day  made  any  other  form  of  government 
impossible,  and  therefore  that  must  be  tried  ;  and  he  desired 
to  give  it  all  the  strength  he  could,  and  proposed  a  plan 
which  should  have  that  effect. 

It  is  possible  that  Hamilton  made  this  profession  and 
proposed  his  measures,  not  even  with  the  desire  of  obtain- 
ing all  he  asked,  but  for  the  purpose  of  asking  much  that 
he  might  obtain  something.  It  is  certain  that,  when  the 
Constitution  was  formed,  it  pleased  those  who  desired  an 
efficient  government  more  than  those  who  demanded  the 
largest  liberty  ;  although  Hamilton  declared  himself  dis- 
satisfied with  it,  and  signed  it  only  as  the  best  thing  that 
could  be  had. 

The  two  antagonist  principles  entered  into  immediate, 
constant,  and  energetic  conflict ;  and  the  good  sense  and 
caution  and  love  of  peace,  and  the  profound  conviction  that 
union  would  be  improbable  if  not  then  consummated,  and 


58  MEMOIR  OF 

that  without  union  there  must  be  destruction,  —  all  these 
were  in  perpetual  requisition,  and  were  only  able  to  rec- 
oncile these  hostile  sentiments  and  principles  so  far  as 
to  produce  the  Constitution,  which  was  throughout,  and 
in  almost  every  paragraph  and  every  provision,  a  com- 
promise. 

After  the  Constitution  was  formed,  the  men  who  most 
loved  peace  and  union  labored  strenuously  to  procure  for  it 
the  signatures  of  all  the  delegates,  that  it  might  go  to  the 
people  with  the  advantage  of  their  unanimous  assent.  And 
all  did  sign  it  but  three,  —  Randolph  and  Mason  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  Elbridge  Gerry  of  Massachusetts,  afterwards 
Governor  of  that  State. 

The  Constitution  contained  a  provision,  that  it  should  go 
into  effect  as  soon  as  nine  States  should  accept  it.  It  was 
itself  adopted  by  the  Convention  which  framed  it,  on  the 
17th  of  September,  1787  ;  then  by  Delaware,  December 
7th,  1787  ;  by  Pennsylvania,  December  12th,  1787  ;  by 
New  Jersey,  December  18th,  1787;  by  Georgia,  January 
2d,  1788;  and  by  Connecticut,  January  9th,  1788.  Then 
came  the  question  whether  the  Commonwealth  of  Massa- 
chusetts should  accept  it. 

It  had  been  generally  expected  that  the  five  States  above 
mentioned  would  ratify  it  without  much  difficulty.  But  it 
was  feared  that  Massachusetts  would  be  hostile,  and  that 
her  example  would  operate  with  much  power  upon  New 
York,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  for  good  or  for  evil.  On 
the  9 th  of  January,  1788,  a  Convention  of  delegates  from 
the  various  towns  of  Massachusetts  (which  then  included 
the  Province  of  Maine)  assembled  at  Boston,  to  determine 
whether  the  Constitution  should  be  adopted  or  rejected  by 
that  State.  The  Debates  of  this  Convention  were  repub- 
lished  by  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  in  18")G.  The 
editorial  care  of  the  volume  was  intrusted  to  Messrs.  Brad- 
ford K.  Peirce  and  Charles  Hale.  These  gentlemen  per- 
formed their  work  with  great  skill  and  perfect  success  ;  and 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  59 

I  shall  have  frequent  occasion  to  quote  from  their  inter- 
esting volume  in  the  pages  immediately  following. 

In  their  Preface  these  gentlemen  say  : 

"  The  proceedings  of  the  Convention  were  of  great  im- 
portance, and  were  so  regarded  throughout  the  country  at 
the  time.  It  is  quite  certain  that,  if  Massachusetts  had 
refused  her  assent  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
that  well-devised  scheme  of  government,  the  careful  work 
of  the  patriots  and  statesmen  of  the  last  century,  under 
which  the  nation  has  enjoyed  so  large  a  degree  of  pros- 
perity, Avould  have  failed.  There  is  ample  evidence  of  this 
in  the  letters  which  are  printed  at  the  end  of  this  volume." 

And  on  the  next  page  they  say :  "  It  is  believed  that,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  session  of  the  Convention,  there  was  a 
majority  against  the  Constitution." 

It  will  be  seen,  from  the  documents  presently  quoted,  that 
all  Avho  were  engaged  in  Shays's  Rebellion,  —  and  some  of 
his  officers  and  soldiers  sat  in  the  Convention,  —  and  all 
who  sympathized  with  them,  and  most  of  the  members  from 
Maine,  who  feared  that  the  separation  of  that  State  from 
Massachusetts  would  be  retarded  by  it,  and  perhaps  appre- 
hended that  their  titles  to  their  farms  would  be  scrutinized 
too  carefully,  were  opposed  to  the  Constitution.  With  these 
were  the  great  mass  of  the  farmers  o*f  Massachusetts,  still 
warm  with  the  zeal  which  had  led  them  through  their  war 
against  oppressive  authority.  All  these  were  hostile  to 
the  Constitution  ;  and  to  them  must  be  added  the  many, 
whether  high  or  low  in  station,  to  whom  it  is  reason  enough 
for  any  course  of  conduct  or  opinion,  that  they  are  only  the 
dry  leaves  of  society,  who  always  go  as  the  wind  goes  ;  or, 
worse  than  that,  self-seekers  who  ask  subsistence  from  the 
mass,  and  pay  for  it  by  subserviency. 

In  favor  of  the  Constitution  Avere  arrayed,  some  one  said, 
the  religion,  the  education,  and  the  Avealth  of  the  com- 
munity. But  by  this  was  only  meant,  that  the  clergy,  the 
lawyers  and  physicians,  and  the  merchants  and  the  com- 


GO  MEMOIR  OF 

mercial  towns,  were  very  generally  in  its  favor.  The  ques- 
tion, however,  on  which  side  was  the  majority  in  number, 
none  could  answer. 

John  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams  were  two  of  the  most 
important  members  of  the  Convention.  Both  were  doubt- 
ful ;  but  it  was  generally  supposed  that,  while  they  were 
not  friendly  to  each  other,  they  agreed  in  a  decided  lean- 
ing against  the  Constitution  ;  and  if  both,  or  if  either,  had 
become  professedly  and  actively  hostile  to  it,  its  adoption 
would  probably  have  been  impossible. 

How  great  was  the  importance  of  that  crisis,  how  many 
of  the  wisest  of  the  land  were  looking  with  anxiety  for  the 
decision  of  Massachusetts,  may  be  inferred  from  the  follow- 
ing extracts  from  letters  and  documents  of  the  time,  which 
are  not  a  tithe  of  what  might  be  presented.  We  make 
these  extracts  from  Messrs.  Pierce  and  Hale's  edition  of  the 
Debates.  They  will  exhibit  the  condition  of  things,  and  the 
hopes  and  fears  of  those  most  interested,  better  than  any 
words  of  mine  could  do. 

James  Madison,  writing  from  New  York  to  George 
Washington,  on  the  20th  of  January,  1788,  says  : 

"  The  intelligence  from  Massachusetts  begins  to  be  very 
ominous  to  the  Constitution.  The  anti-Federal  party  is 
reinforced  by  the  insurgents,  and  by  the  Province  of  Maine, 
which  apprehends  greater  obstacles  to  her  scheme  of  a 
separate  government  from  the  new  system,  than  may  be 
otherwise  experienced.  And  according  to  the  prospect  at 
the  date  of  the  latest  letters,  there  was  very  great  reason  to 
fear  that  the  voice  of  that  State  would  be  in  the  negative. 
The  operation  of  such  an  event  on  this  State  may  easily  be 

foreseen The  decision  of  Massachusetts  either  way 

will  involve  the  result  in  this  State.  The  minority  in  Penn- 
sylvania is  very  restless  under  their  defeat.  If  they  can 
get  an  Assembly  to  their  wish,  they  Avill  endeavor  to  under- 
mine what  has  been  done  there.  If  backed  by  Massachu- 
setts, they  will  probably  bu  emboldened  to  make  some  more 
rash  experiment." 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PAKSONS.  61 

On  the  25th  he  writes  to  Washington  again  : 

"  The  information  from  Boston  by  the  mail,  on  the  even- 
ing before  last,  has  not  removed  our  suspense.  The  follow- 
ing is  an  extract  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  King,  dated  on  the 
16th  instant. 

" '  We  may  have  three  hundred  and  sixty  members  in 
our  Convention.  Not  more  than  three  hundred  and  thirty 
have  yet  taken  their  seats.  Immediately  after  the  settle- 
ment of  elections,  the  Convention  resolved  that  they  would 
consider  and  freely  deliberate  on  each  paragraph,  without 
taking  a  question  on  any  of  them  individually  ;  and  that,  on 
the  question  whether  they  would  ratify,  each  member  should 
be  at  liberty  to  discuss  the  plan  at  large.  This  resolution 
seems  to  preclude  the  idea  of  amendments,  and  hitherto  the 
measure  has  not  been  suggested.  I  however  do  not,  from 
this  circumstance,  conclude  that  it  may  not  hereafter  occur. 

" '  The  opponents  of  the  Constitution  moved  that  Mr. 
Gerry  should  be  requested  to  take  a  seat  in  the  Convention, 
to  answer  such  inquiries  as  the  Convention  should  make 
concerning  facts  which  happened  in  the  passing  of  the  Con- 
stitution. Although  this  seems  to  be  a  very  irregular  pro- 
posal, yet,  considering  the  jealousies  which  prevail  with 
those  who  made  it,  (who  are  certainly  not  the  most  enlight- 
ened part  of  the  Convention,)  and  the  doubt  of  the  issue, 
had  it  been  made  a  trial  of  strength,  several  friends  of  the 
Constitution  united  with  the  opponents,  and  the  resolution 
was  agreed  to,  and  Mr.  Gerry  has  taken  his  seat.' " 

General  Lincoln  writes  to  Washington  on  the  27th,  as 
follows  : 

"  I  have  the  pleasure  of  enclosing  two  newspapers,  in 
which  are  the  debates  of  the  Convention  to  Saturday,  the 
19th.  They  are  not  forward  enough  to  give  your  Excel- 
lency a  just  state  of  the  business.  I  therefore  am  induced 
to  observe  that,  yesterday,  we  were  on  the  ninth  section. 
The  opposition  seem  now  inclined  to  hurry  over  the  busi- 
ness, and  bring  on,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  main  question. 


62  MEMOIR  OF 

However,  this  they  are  not  permitted  to  do.  It  is  pretty 
well  known  what  objections  are  on  the  minds  of  the  people ; 
it  becomes,  therefore,  necessary  to  obviate  them,  if  possible. 
We  have,  hitherto,  done  this  with  success.  The  opposition 
see  it,  and  are  alarmed,  for  there  are  a  vast  many  people 
attending  in  the  galleries,  (we  now  assemble  in  one  of  our 
meeting-houses,)  and  most  of  the  arguments  are  published 
in  the  papers.  Both  are  of  use." 

Washington  writes  to  General  Lincoln  from  Mount  Ver- 
non,  on  the  31st  of  January,  this  letter  : 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  find  there  is  likely  to  be  so  powerful 
an  opposition  to  the  adoption  of  the  proposed  plan  of  gov- 
ernment with  you  ;  and  I  am  entirely  of  your  opinion,  that 
the  business  of  the  Convention  should  be  conducted  with 
moderation,  candor,  and  fairness,  Avhich  are  not  incom- 
patible with  firmness.  Although,  as  you  justly  observe,  the 
friends  of  the  new  system  may  bear  down  the  opposition, 
yet  they  would  never  be  able,  by  precipitate  or  violent 
measures,  to  soothe  and  reconcile  their  minds  to  the  exer- 
cise of  the  government,  which  is  a  matter  that  ought  as 
much  as  possible  to  be  kept  in  view,  and  temper  their  pro- 
ceedings. 

"What  will  be  the  fate  of  the  Constitution  in  this  State 
is  impossible  to  tell,  at  a  period  so  far  distant  from  the 
meeting  of  the  Convention.  My  private  opinion  of  the  mat- 
ter, however,  is,  that  it  will  certainly  be  adopted.  There  is 
no  doubt  but  the  decision  of  other  States  will  have  great 
influence  here,  particularly  of  one  so  respectable  as  Massa- 
chusetts." 

Madison  writes  to  Washington  on  the  3d  of  February, 
saying  that  a  letter,  dated  the  27th  of  January,  from  a 
member,  gives  the  following  picture  : 

"  Never  was.  there  an  assembly  in  this  State  in  possession 
of  greater  ability  and  information  than  the  present  Conven- 
tion ;  yet  I  am  in  doubt  whether  they  will  approve  the 
Constitution.  There  are,  unhappily,  three  parties  opposed 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  63 

to  it.  First,  all  men  who  are  in  favor  of  paper  money  and 
tender  laws.  Those  are  more  or  less  in  every  part  of  the 
State.  Second,  all  the  late  insurgents  and  their  abettors. 
In  the  three  great  western  counties  they  are  very  numerous. 
We  have  in  the  Convention  eighteen  or  twenty  who  were 
actually  in  Shays's  army.  Third,  a  great  majority  of  the 
members  from  the  Province  of  Maine.  Many  of  them  and 
their  constituents  are  only  squatters  upon  other  people's 
land,  and  they  are  afraid  of  being  brought  to  account. 
They  also  think,  though  erroneously,  that  their  favorite 
plan  of  being  a  separate  State  will  be  defeated.  Add  to 
these,  the  honest,  doubting  people,  and  they  make  a  power- 
ful host.  The  leaders  of  this  party  are  a  Mr.  Wedgery, 
Mr.  Thompson,  and  Mr.  Nasson,  from  the  Province  of 
Maine ;  a  Dr.  Taylor,  from  the  county  of  Worcester,  and 
Mr.  Bishop,  from  the  neighborhood  of  Rhode  Island." 

On  the  5th  of  February,  Washington  writes  to  Madison  : 

"I  am  sorry  to  find,  by  yours  and  other  accounts  from 
Massachusetts,  that  the  decision  of  its  Convention,  at  the 
time  of  their  respective  dates,  remained  problematical.  A 
rejection  of  the  new  form  by  that  State  would  invigorate 
the  opposition,  not  only  in  New  York,  but  in  all  those  which 
are  to  follow ;  at  the  same  time,  it  Avould  afford  materials 
for  the  minority,  in  such  as  have  actually  agreed  to  it,  to 
blow  the  trumpet  of  discord  more  loudly." 

General  Knox,  after  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  also 
writes  to  Washington,  as  follows  : 

"  The  opposition  has  not  ai'isen  from  a  consideration  of 
the  merits  or  demerits  of  the  thing  itself,  as  a  political 
machine,  but  from  a  deadly  principle  levelled  at  the  exist- 
ence of  all  government  whatever.  .  The  principle  of  insur- 
gency expanded,  deriving  fresh  strength  and  life  from  the 
impunity  with  which  the  rebellion  of  last  year  was  suffered 
to  escape.  It  is  a  singular  circumstance,  that,  in  Massachu- 
setts, the  property,  the  ability,  and  the  virtue  of  the  State 
are  almost  solely  in  favor  of  the  Constitution.  Opposed  to 


64  MEMOIR  OF 

it  are  the  late  insurgents,  and  all  those  who  abetted  their 
designs,  constituting  four  fifths  of  the  opposition.  A  few, 
very  few  indeed,  well-meaning  people  are  joined  to  them. 
The  friends  of  the  Constitution  in  that  State,  without  over- 
rating their  own  importance,  conceived  that  the  decision  of 
Massachusetts  would  most  probably  settle  the  fate  of  the 
proposition.  They  therefore  proceeded  most  cautiously  and 
wisely,  debated  every  objection  with  the  most  guarded  good- 
nature and  candor,  but  took  no  questions  on  the  several 
paragraphs,  and  thereby  prevented  the  establishment  of 
parties.  This  conduct  has  been  attended  with  the  most 
beneficial  consequences.  It  is  now  no  secret,  that,  on  the 
opening  of  the  Convention,  a  majority  were  prejudiced 
against  it." 

Knox  writes  to  Livingston  in  the  same  strain  ;  and 
"Washington  writes  to  Madison,  from  Mount  Yernon,  on  the 
2d  of  March : 

"  The  decision  of  Massachusetts,  notwithstanding  its  con- 
comitants, is  a  severe  stroke  to  the  opponents  of  the  pro- 
posed Constitution  in  this  State  ;  and,  with  the  favorable 
decision  of  those  States  Avhich  have  gone  before  it,  and  such 
as  ai'e  likely  to  follow,  will  have  a  powerful  operation  on 
the  minds  of  men,  who  are  not  more  influenced  by  passion, 
pique,  and  resentment,  than  they  are  by  candor,  moderation, 
and  judgment." 

Washington  also  writes  to  Knox,  on  the  3d  of  March : 

"  I  pray  you  to  accept  my  acknowledgments  of  your 
favors  of  the  10th  and  14th  ultimo,  and  congratulation  on 
the  acceptance  of  the  new  Constitution  by  the  State  of 

Massachusetts It  will  be  very  influential  on  the 

equivocal  States." 

All  of  these  letters  may  be  found  in  the  recent  edition  of 
the  Debates. 

So  much  for  the  importance  and  the  difficulty  of  the 
question.  And  now  for  the  means  by  which  Hancock  and 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  65 

Samuel  Adams,  on  whom  so  much  depended,  who  were 
hostile  to  each  other,  and  were  both  opposed  to  the  Con- 
stitution, were  induced  to  agree  in  its  support ;  and  enough 
of  the  adverse  majority  brought  over  to  save  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  with  it,  perhaps,  the  State  and  the  nation. 

The  Convention  met,  as  has  been  said,  January  9th,  1788. 
From  the  first  hour  the  prospect  darkened  with  every  clay. 
The  hopes  of  those  who  desired  the  acceptance  of  the  Con- 
stitution grew  continually  more  feeble,  until,  on  the  31st  of 
January,  Hancock  came  in  and  took  his  place  as  President, 
having  excused  himself  from  previous  attendance  on  the 
score  of  incapacitating  illness. 

After  some  members  had  spoken,  my  father  moved 
"  that  this  Convention  do  now  assent  to  and  ratify  this 
Constitution."  Two  or  three  members  spoke  to  the  general 
question,  and  then  "  his  Excellency  the  President  rose,  and 
observed,  that  he  was  conscious  of  the  impropriety,  situated 
as  he  was,  of  his  entering  into  the  deliberations  of  the  Con- 
vention ;  that,  unfortunately,  through  painful  indisposition 
of  body,  he  had  been  prevented  from  giving  his  attendance 
in  his  place  ;  but,  from  the  information  he  had  received,  and 
from  the  papers,  there  appeared  to  him  to  be  a  great  dis- 
similarity of  sentiments  in  the  Convention.  To  remove  the 
objections  of  some  gentlemen,  he  felt  himself  induced,  he 
said,  to  hazard  a  proposition  for  their  consideration  ;  which, 
with  the  permission  of  the  Convention,  he  would  offer  in  the 
afternoon." 

The  Convention  then  adjourned  to  the  afternoon ;  and 
when  it  met,  "  his  Excellency  the  President  observed,  that 
a  motion  had  been  made  and  seconded,  that  this  Conven- 
tion do  assent  to,  and  ratify,  the  Constitution  which  had 
been  under  consideration ;  and  that  he  had  in  the  former 
part  of  the  day  intimated  his  intention  of  submitting  a 
proposition  to  the  consideration  of  the  Convention.  My 
motive,  says  he,  arises  from  my  earnest  desire  to  this  Con- 
vention, my  fellow-citizens,  and  the  public  at  large,  that 
5 


66  MEMOIR  OF 

this  Convention  may  adopt  sucli  a  form  of  government  as 
may  extend  its  good  influences  to  every  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  advance  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  world. 
His  situation,  his  Excellency  said,  had  not  permitted  him 
to  enter  into  the  debates  of  this  Convention  ;  it  however 
appeared  to  him  necessary,  from  Avhat  had  been  advanced 
in  them,  to  adopt  the  form  of  government  proposed ;  but, 
observing  a  diversity  of  sentiment  in  the  gentlemen  of  the 
Convention,  he  had  frequently  had  conversation  with  them 
on  the  subject ;  and  from  this  conversation  he  was  induced 
to  propose  to  them,  whether  the  introduction  of  some  gen- 
eral amendments  would  not  be  attended  with  the  happiest 
consequences.  For  that  purpose  he  should,  with  the  leave 
of  the  honorable  Convention,  submit  to  their  consideration 
a  proposition,  in  order  to  remove  the  doubts  and  quiet 
the  apprehensions  of  gentlemen ;  and  if  in  any  degree  the 
object  should  be  acquired,  he  should  feel  himself  perfectly 
satisfied.  He  should,  therefore,  submit  them ;  for  he  was, 
he  said,  unable  to  go  more  largely  into  the  subject,  if  his 
abilities  would  permit  him ;  relying  on  the  candor  of  the 
Convention  to  bear  him  witness  that  his  wishes  for  a  good 
Constitution  were  sincere.  (His  Excellency  then  read  his 
proposition.)  This,  Gentlemen,  concluded  his  Excellency, 
is  the  proposition  which  I  had  to  make  ;  and  I  submit  it  to 
your  consideration,  with  the  sincere  Avish  that  it  may  have 
a  tendency  to  promote  a  spirit  of  union." 
The  proposition  \vas  as  follows  : 

COMMONAVEALTII   OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

In  Convention  of  the  Delegates  of  the  People  of  the  Commonwealth 

of  Massachusetts,  1788. 

The  Convention  having  impartially  discussed  and  fully  consid- 
ered the  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America,  re  ported 
to  Congress  hy  the  Convention  of  Delegates  from  the,  United 
States  of  America,  and  submitted  to  us  by  a  Kesolution  of  the 
General  Court  of  the,  said  Commonwealth,  passed  the  twenty- 
fifth  day  of  October  last  past ;  and  acknowledging,  Avith  grateful 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  67 

hearts,  the  goodness  of  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  in 
affording  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  the  course  of  his 
providence,  an  opportunity,  deliberately  and  peaceably,  without 
fraud  or  surprise,  of  entering  into  an  explicit  and  solemn  com- 
pact with  each  other,  by  assenting  to  and  ratifying  a  new  Con- 
stitution, in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice, 
insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence, 
promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty 
to  themselves  and  their  posterity,  —  do,  in  the  name  and  in 
behalf  of  the  people  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts, 
assent  to  and  ratify  the  said  CONSTITUTION  FOR  THE  UNITED 
STATES  OP  AMERICA. 

And  as  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Convention  that  certain  amend- 
ments and  alterations  in  the  said  Constitution  would  remove  the 
fears  and  quiet  the  apprehensions  of  many  of  the  good  people 
of  this  Commonwealth,  and  more  effectually  guard  against  an 
undue  administration  of  the  federal  government ;  the  Conven- 
tion do  therefore  recommend  that  the  following  alterations  and 
provisions  be  introduced  into  the  said  Constitution  : 

First.  That  it  be  explicitly  declared,  that  all  powers  not  ex- 
pressly delegated  to  Congress  are  reserved  to  the  several  States, 
to  be  by  them  exercised. 

Secondly.  That  there  shall  be  one  representative  to  every 
thirty  thousand  persons,  until  the  whole  number  of  representa- 
tives amount  to  . 

Thirdly.  That  Congress  do  not  exercise  the  powers  vested  in 
them  by  the  fourth  section  of  the  first  article,  but  in  cases  where 
a  State  shall  neglect  or  refuse  to  make  adequate  provision  for 
an  equal  representation  of  the  people,  agreeably  to  this  Consti- 
tution. 

Fourthly.  That  Congress  do  not  lay  direct  taxes,  but  when 
the  moneys  arising  from  the  impost  and  excise  are  insufficient 
for  the  public  exigencies. 

Fifthly.  That  Congress  erect  no  company  of  merchants  with 
exclusive  advantages  of  commerce. 

Sixthly.  That  no  person  shall  be  tried  for  any  crime,  by 
which  he  may  incur  an  infamous  punishment,  or  loss  of  life, 
until  he  be  first  indicted  by  a  grand  jury,  except  in  such  cases 
as  may  arise  in  the  government  and  regulation  of  the  land  and 
naval  forces. 


68  MEMOIR  OF 

Seventhly.  The  Supreme  Judicial  Federal  Court  shall  have 
no  jurisdiction  of  causes  between  citizens  of  different  States, 
unless  the  matter  in  dispute  be  of  the  value  of  —  —  dollars,  at 
the  least. 

Eighthly.  In  civil  actions  between  citizens  of  different  States, 
every  issue  of  fact  arising  in  actions  at  common  law  shall  be  tried 
by  a  jury,  if  the  parties,  or  either  of  them,  request  it. 

Ninthly.  That  the  words,  "  without  the  consent  of  the  Con- 
gress," in  the  last  paragraph  of  the  ninth  section  of  the  first 
article,  be  stricken  out. 

And  the  Convention  do,  in  the  name  and  in  behalf  of  the 
people  of  this  Commonwealth,  enjoin  it  upon  their  Representa- 
tives in  Congress,  at  all  times,  until  the  alterations  and  provisions 
aforesaid  have  been  considered,  agreeably  to  the  fifth  article  of 
the  said  Constitution,  to  exert  all  their  influence,  and  use  all 
reasonable  and  legal  methods,  to  obtain  a  ratification  of  the  said 
alterations  and  provisions,  in  such  manner  as  is  provided  in  the 
said  article. 

And  that  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  may  have 
due  notice  of  the  assent  and  ratification  of  the  said  Constitution, 
by  this  Convention,  it  is 

Resolved,  That  the  assent  and  ratification  aforesaid  be  en- 
grossed on  parchment,  together  with  the  recommendation  and 
injunction  aforesaid,  and  with  this  Resolution  ;  and  that  his 
Excellency  John  Hancock,  Esquire,  President,  and  the  Honor- 
able William  Gushing,  Esquire,  Vice-President  of  this  Conven- 
tion, transmit  the  same,  countersigned  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Convention,  under  their  hands  and  seals,  to  the  United  States, 
in  Congress  assembled. 

These  amendments  are  often  called,  in  the  histories  of  the 
times,  the  "  Conciliatory  Resolutions,"  and  they  were  emi- 
nently so.  It  was  their  purpose,  and  it  was  their  effect,  to 
reconcile  conflicting  opinions,  and  to  procure  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution.  Samuel  Adams  at  once  arose,  declared 
himself  satisfied  with  the  Constitution  with  these  amend- 
ments, and  seconded  them.  They  were  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee, and  reported  with  little  change  ;  and  after  some  dis- 
cussion, in  which  one  or  two  of  the  opponents  of  the  Consti- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  59 

tution  spoke  of  the  amendments  as  reconciling  them  to  it,  — 
as  Mr.  Turner  of  Scituate  and  Mi*.  Symmes  of  Andover,  — 
the  Constitution  was  adopted,  by  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven  yeas,  against  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  nays  ;  or  by 
a  majority  of  only  nineteen  out  of  three  hundred  and  fifty- 
five  votes.  At  once,  however,  many  of  its  leading  oppo- 
nents hastened  to  declare  that  it  had  been  fairly  adopted, 
that  they  accepted  it  in  good  faith,  and  would  go  home  and 
do  their  utmost  to  reconcile  the  people  to  it,  and  induce  a 
general  recognition  of  it  as  the  law  of  the  land.  In  Boston 
the  rejoicing  was  universal.  There  was  a  great  procession, 
with  much  burning  of  gunpowder,  many  dinners,  speeches, 
songs,  and  other  demonstrations  of  great  joy. 

I  have  said  that  these  "  Conciliatory  Resolutions  "  saved 
the  Constitution ;  and  I  say  so,  because  everybody  said  so 
then,  and  nobody  has  since  denied  this,  so  far  as  I  know. 
Some  stanzas  in  a  ballad  made  on  the  occasion,  and  sung 
to  "  Yankee  Doodle,"  expressed  the  common  opinion : 

Then  'Squire  Hancock,  like  a  man 

Who  dearly  loves  the  nation, 
By  a  concil'atory  plan, 

Prevented  much  vexation. 

Yankee  doodle,  keep  it  iip  ! 

Yankee  doodle,  dandy ! 
Mind  the  music  and  the  step, 
And  with  the  girls  be  handy. 

He  made  a  woundy  Fed'ral  speech, 

With  sense  and  elocution  ; 
And  then  the  'Vention  did  beseech 

T'  adopt  the  Constitution. 
Yankee  doodle,  &c. 

The  question  being  outright  put, 

(Each  voter  independent,) 
The  Fcd'ralists  agreed  t'  adopt, 

And  then  propose  amendment. 
Yankee  doodle,  &c. 


70  MEMOIR  OF 

The  other  party,  seeing  then 

The  people  were  against  'em, 
Agreed,  like  honest,  faithful  men, 

To  mix  in  peace  amongst  'em. 
Yankee  doodle,  &c. 

I  have  dwelt  on  these  amendments,  because  my  father 
wrote  them,  and  every  word  of  them.  It  was  also  said,  very 
commonly,  that  Hancock  read  them  from  the  manuscript  in 
my  father's  handwriting  ;  but  Mr.  Quincy,  in  a  letter  to 
me,  published  a  few  pages  farther  on,  does  not  think  this 
probable. 

I  should  not  state  so  positively  that  my  father  was  the 
author  of  these  amendments,  if  my  belief  of  it  rested 
only  on  a  family  tradition,  however  clear  and  constant  that 
might  be  ;  or  even  because  I  remember  hearing  of  the  fol- 
lowing incident  as  long  ago  as  I  remember  anything.  lie 
then  lived  in  Newburyport,  and  when  in  Boston  resided 
with  his  brother  William,  in  Summer  Street.  On  the  Sat- 
urday after  the  amendments  were  offered  by  Hancock,  my 
uncle  made  a  "  conciliatory  "  dinner.  Some  who  had  been 
hostile  were  there,  as  well  as  some  of  the  faithful.  My 
father  was  not  present,  having  gone  to  Newburyport  to  pass 
his  Sunday  at  home.  A  member  who  had  been  satisfied  by 
these  amendments,  when  the  conversation  fell  upon  them, 
took  a  copy  from  his  pocket,  and  began  to  read  it,  with  vast 
praise  of  Hancock  as  the  saviour  of  his  country.  A  young 
niece  of  my  aunt  was  in  the  room.  She  was  one  of  those 
bright,  observing,  and  outspoken  children  —  those  cnfans 
terriblcs  —  who  do  a  good  deal  of  mischief  without  intend- 
ing it  ;  but  it  is  diflicult  for  me  to  describe  her  in  this 
way,  for  I  knew  her  only  as  a  feeble  and  sickly,  and,  as  I 
then  thought,  aged  woman.  While  the  reading  was  going 
on,  she  plucked  at  my  uncle's  coat  until  he  turned  to  her 
with,  "  Well,  what  is  it,  my  dear?"  u  Why.  Uncle,  is  not 
that  the  paper  that  Uncle  Tlieoph  was  reading  to  Mr.  Cabot 
last  Wednesday  night?"  Those  who  were  in  the  secret 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  71 

joined  in  making  it  out  a  jest  or  a  blunder,  and  it  passed 
by.  But  again  and  again  in  after  years  would  my  uncle 
laugh  at  his  niece  about  her  "  letting  the  cat  out  of  the  bag." 

Colonel  Joseph  May,  the  administrator  of  Mr.  Hancock, 
found  the  original  draft,  in  my  father's  handwriting,  among 
Mr.  Hancock's  papers.  "  Laco,"  a  writer  in  the  newspapers 
of  much  celebrity  in  those  days,  was  generally  supposed  to 
be  Mr.  Stephen  Higginson,  who  was  certainly  as  honest  a 
man  as  ever  lived,  and  one  of  my  father's  especial  friends. 
After  some  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention, 
he  goes  on,  in  one  of  his  essays,  thus  : 

"  The  famous  conciliatory  proposition  of  Mr.  Hancock, 
as  it  was  called,  was-  then  prepared  by  the  advocates  [of  the 
Constitution],  and  adopted  by  him ;  but  the  truth  is,  he 
never  was  consulted  about  it,  nor  knew  its  contents,  before 
it  was  handed  to  him  to  bring  forward  in  Convention.  At 
the  appointed  time,  Mr.  Hancock,  with  all  the  parade  of  an 
arbiter  of  states,  came  out  with  the  motion,  not  only  in  the 
words,  but  with  the  very  original  paper  that  was  given  to 
him ;  and  with  a  confidence  astonishing  to  all  who  were  in 
the  secret,  he  called  it  his  own,  and  said  it  Avas  the  result  of 
his  own  reflections  on  the  subject  in  the  short  intervals  of 
ease  which  he  had  enjoyed  during  a  most  painful  disorder. 
In  this  pompous  and  farcical  manner  did  he  make  that  fa- 
mous proposition,  upon  which  he  and  his  adherents  have 
arrogated  so  much." 

Mr.  Higginson  was  hardly  justified  in  the  blame  he  cast 
on  Mr.  Hancock,  unless  he,  or  whoever  else  was  Laco, 
was  an  eyewitness,  and  described  what  he  saw.  If  the 
printed  debates  can  be  relied  on,  there  was  no  "  pomp,"  &c. 
in  the  manner  in  which  he  introduced  the  resolution ; 
and  there  seems  to  be  a  careful  and  constant  forbearance 
from  all  personal  claim  to  their  paternity.  He  speaks  of 
them  to  the  Convention  as  "  your  proposals,"  and  "  the 
amendments  proposed,"  &c. ;  but  avoids  every  expression 
which  would  seem  to  claim  them  as  his  own ;  speaking, 


72  MEMOIR  OF 

as  it  appears  to  me,  with  an  obvious,  if  not  a  studied  am- 
biguity. 

It  has  often  been  said  to  me,  in  reference  to  this  matter, 
"  Your  father  then  saved  the  country  " ;  and  the  same  sen- 
timent has  been  expressed  in  many  ways.  But  my  father 
was  only  one  of  many  who  co-operated  to  this  good  result. 
Washington,  in  a  letter  from  which  I  have  already  quoted, 
in  which  he  speaks  with  great  joy  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution  in  this  State,  bears  emphatic  testimony  to  "  the 
good  sense,  sound  reasoning,  moderation,  and  temper,"  with- 
out which  '•'  nothing  else  could  have  carried  the  question." 
In  truth,  the  ablest  men  of  the  country  labored  together. 

It  was  said  then,  and  has  been  repeated  again  and  again, 
that  a  bargain  was  made  with  Hancock  that  he  should  have 
and  keep  all  the  credit  of  preparing,  as  well  as  offering, 
these  resolutions,  and  of  saving  the  Constitution  by  them, 
and  that  the  "'  Federalists  "  would  join  his  friends  in  mak- 
ing him  Governor,  and  giving  him  what  further  political  dis- 
tinction, in  the  State  or  the  Union,  he  might  desire.  I  have 
never  seen  any  evidence  of  such  a  bargain,  and  believe  it  to 
have  been  wholly  unnecessary.  Hancock  knew  perfectly 
well  that  it  was  just  as  much  the  interest  of  the  preparers 
of  those  resolutions  as  it  was  his  own  to  keep  the  secret, 
for  some  years  at  least ;  and  he  knew,  too,  that  if  he  took 
this  position,  and  thus  secured  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, it  would  not  be  possible  to  prevent  his  being  chosen 
Governor,  or  from  becoming  the  most  popular  man  in  the 
State.  With  his  own  party  he  was  powerful,  and  they 
formed  a  strong,  if  not  the  strongest  party  ;  and  the  Feder- 
alists could  not  oppose  him,  if  they  would. 

More  than  this  :  it  should  be  said,  I  think,  in  justice  to 
Hancock  (of  whom  I  am  not  an  admirer),  that  it  is  cer- 
tainly possible  that,  learning  from  day  to  day  what  was 
going  on  in  the  Convention,  he  might  think  some  step  of  this 
kind  would  be  wise  and  acceptable,  and  on  his  own  account 
desire  it.  It  was  said  that  he  delayed  all  interference  until 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  73 

the  friends  of  the  Constitution  succeeded  in  giving  him  the 
opinion  that  it  might  be  adopted  without  his  aid,  and  that  he 
was  thereby  prevailed  upon  to  take  a  position  from  which 
it  would  be  inferred  that  it  was  carried  only  through  his 
influence.  I  cannot  say  how  this  was. 

The  resolutions  probably  originated  with  the  "Essex 
Junto."  My  father  wrote  these  resolutions,  or  amendments, 
or  propositions,  —  for  they  have  been  called,  both  then  and 
since,  by  all  these  names.  But  it  would  be  impossible  now, 
and  perhaps  would  have  been  difficult  then,  to  apportion  to 
each  one  of  those  who  assisted,  in  one  Avay  or  another,  his 
exact  share  of  advice  or  suggestion. 

There  is  evidence  enough  that  a  plan  of  this  kind  was 
for  some  time  in  agitation.  Madison,  in  a  letter  to  Wash- 
ington already  quoted  from,  says,  "  With  all  this  ability 
in  support  of  the  Constitution,  I  am  pretty  well  satisfied 
we  shall  lose  the  question,  unless  ive  can  take  off  some 
of  the  opposition  by  amendments."  By  this  time,  probably, 
the  plan  was  determined  on  ;  and  it  is  so  obvious  an  expe- 
dient, that  it  must  have  been  in  the  minds  of  some  from  the 
beginning  of  the  Convention,  or  even  before  it. 

The  resolutions  were  referred  to  a  committee,  as  I  have 
stated.  It  consisted  of  twenty-five  members.  My  father 
was  the  third  named  on  this  committee.  In  this  connection, 
the  letter  of  General  Knox  to  Robert  R.  Livingston  is  quite 
significant.  lie  says,  "As  the  propositions  were  the  pro- 
duction of  the  Federalists,  after  mature  deliberation,  there 
cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  committee  will  report  in  favor  of 
the  propositions  as  they  are  stated."  This  seems  to  me  con- 
clusive on  three  points  :  one,  that  they  had  been  for  some 
time  under  consideration  ;  another,  that  neither  Hancock  nor 
any  of  his  party  wrote  them  ;  another,  that,  however  carefully 
the  secret  was  kept,  the  truth  was  known,  in  substance  at 
least,  to  the  leading  Federalists  of  the  day,  and  freely  spoken 
of  by  them  to  each  other.  There  is  other  evidence  that  the 
secret  had  leaked  out  a  little.  Mr.  Stillman,  in  a  speech 


74  MEMOIR   OF 

delivered  February  6,  after  much  laudation  of  Mr.  Han- 
cock, says :  "  But  what  has  been  the  consequence  of  your 
Excellency's  conciliatory  propositions  ?  Jealousy !  jealousy, 
sir,  that  there  was  a  snake  in  the  grass,  a  secret  intention  to 
deceive  !  I  shudder  at  the  ungenerous  suggestion  ;  nor  will 
I  dwell  a  moment  longer  on  the  distressing  idea."  General 
Thompson  said,  "As  to  the  amendments,  he  could  not  say 
amen  to  them,  but  they  might  be  voted  for  by  some  men, — 
he  did  not  say  Judases."  And  Dr.  Jarvis  said,  soon  after, 
"  It  has  been  insinuated,  sir,  that  these  amendments  have 
been  artfully  introduced  to  lead  to  a  decision  which  would 
not  otherwise  be  had."  But  the  secret  was,  on  the  whole, 
well  kept.  They  had  their  expected  influence ;  and  the 
Constitution  was  saved.  And  if  this  were  all  their  merit,  it 
would  be  enough  to  win  for  them  a  place  in  history. 

But  this  is  not  all.  It  is  now  quite  certain  that  very  few 
persons  indeed,  if  any,  were  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  Con- 
stitution as  originally  adopted  by  the  Convention  at  Phila- 
delphia, and  by  them  offered  to  the  States.  They  who 
were  most  earnestly  desirous  that  it  should  be  accepted  by 
the  States  were,  perhaps,  the  most  profoundly  convinced  that 
it  had  great  defects.  It  would  be  an  entire  mistake  to  sup- 
pose that,  because  Cabot,  Ames,  Strong,  and  others,  with  my 
father,  were  ready  to  vote  for  it  as  it  stood,  and  to  do  every- 
thing in  their  power  to  secure  its  adoption,  they  did  not  sec 
its  defects,  or  did  not  desire  to  supply  them.  The  Constitu- 
tion as  offered  was  infinitely  better  than  none  ;  and  rather 
than  peril  its  adoption,  they  would  have  accepted  it  just  as 
it  was,  and  succeeded  so  far  in  exciting  this  feeling  in  the 
Massachusetts  Convention,  that  a  proposition  to  make  the 
amendments  a  part  of  the  Constitution  as  adopted  by  this 
State  was  voted  down,  and  the  Constitution  was  adopted 
as  it  was  offered,  leaving  the  amendments  to  be  afterwards 
acted  upon  by  the  States.  It  must  not  be  supposed,  there- 
fore, that  my  father  merely  reduced  to  writing  what  others 
desired,  and  he  did  not  desire.  On  the  contrary,  no  one 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  75 

was  more  solicitous  than  he  was  that  some  of  them  —  I 
may  name  the  first  one  especially  —  should  be  added  to 
the  Constitution.  But  his  friends  considered,  at  the  time, 
that  he  had  displayed  the  utmost  skill  in  preparing  amend- 
ments which  should  not  only  make  the  Constitution  more 
acceptable  to  the  Convention  generally,  and  overcome  the 
objections  of  opponents  who  were  not  agreed  together 
in  their  opposition,  and  give  to  the  Constitution  a  popular 
character  which  recommended  it  to  the  people  and  to  those 
who  sought  the  favor  of  the  people,  —  but  accomplish  these 
objects  by  introducing  provisions  which  he  himself  strongly 
desired,  and  which  the  best  friends  of  the  Constitution 
around  him  regarded  as  improving  it  very  greatly.  How 
far  he  deserved  this  praise,  others  can  judge  as  well  as  I 
can,  or  better. 

There  could,  at  all  events,  be  no  greater  mistake  than 
that  of  supposing  these  amendments  to  be  mere  trivialities, 
with  which  a  trick  was  played  to  preserve  things  of  value. 
The  fact  is  very  far  otherwise.  The  first  of  them  has  be- 
come, it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  the  very  keystone  of  the 
national  Constitution.  It  is  that  in  which  it  is  declared,  that 
"  all  powers  not  expressly  delegated  by  the  aforesaid  Con- 
stitution, are  reserved  to  the  several  States."  This  pro- 
vision now  sets  limits  to  all  its  other  provisions,  and  is 
constantly  invoked  in  the  consideration  of  other  important 
clauses.  It  was  not  in  the  original  Constitution,  but  was 
written  by  my  father,  and  placed  at  the  head  of  those 
amendments  which  were  put  by  him  into  Hancock's  hands, 
and  in  this  way  made  the  means  of  saving  the  whole.  Be- 
ing adopted  by  Massachusetts,  it  was  proposed  by  Congress 
to  the  other  States  (under  the  fifth  article  of  the  original 
Constitution)  ;  and  its  value  and  necessity  being  at  once  per- 
ceived, it  was  immediately  accepted  by  the  requisite  number 
of  States,  and  was  so  incorporated  into  the  Constitution. 

The  eighth  amendment,  securing  a  trial  of  issues  of  fact  in 
certain  cases  by  a  jury,  and  the  sixth,  that  no  one  shall  be 


7G  MEMOIR  OF 

tried  for  a  capital  or  infamous  crime  except  upon  indictment 
by  a  grand  jury,  were  also  adopted,  and  are  now  in  force 
as  a  part  of  the  Constitution.  Besides  these,  the  principle 
and  the  intended  effect  of  some  of  the  others  have  been  se- 
cured by  legislation. 

It  may  be  thought  strange,  that,  after  all  possibility  of 
mischief  from  the  disclosure  had  passed  away,  my  father  did 
not  declare  his  authorship,  and  put  the  fact  and  the  evidence 
of  it  on  record.  So  it  may  seem  strange  that  he  never 
signed  the  "  Essex  Result,"  or  caused  or  authorized  his 
name  to  be  published  in  any  manner  in  connection  with  it. 
I  can  only  say  it  was  just  so  to  the  end  of  his  life.  It  will 
be  seen  presently  how  much  he  not  only  did,  but  how  much 
he  wrote,  and  how  much  he  gave  to  others  to  publish,  and 
what  masses  of  manuscript  on  various  topics  he  left  behind, 
some  in  a  form  ready  for  the  press,  and  how  sedulously  and 
constantly  he  withheld  his  name.  As  far  as  I  can  find,  he 
never  in  his  whole  life  published  anything  under  his  own 
name  and  as  his  own  production ;  unless  the  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court  may  be  so  considered.  In  explanation  of 
this  I  can  only  repeat  what  may  seem  incredible,  that  he 
had  a  positive  dislike  for,  and  disgust  at,  notoriety.  I  do 
not  mean  that  he  applied  to  the  subject  of  fame  the  prin- 
ciple of  Agar's  prayer  as  to  wealth, — "Give  me  neither 
poverty  nor  riches,"  —  and  therefore  desired  only  a  simple 
respectability,  as  the  condition  most  favorable  for  character 
and  for  happiness,  for  this  I  should  have  thought  sound  and 
wise.  But  I  repeat  what  I  have  already  intimated,  that 
he  indulged  an  extreme  contempt  for  the  '•  vox  populi" 
which  was  developed  at  an  early  period  of  his  life,  and  Avas 
strengthened  with  advancing  years. 

I  insert  here  an  interesting  letter  from  President  Quincy. 
It  would  be  superfluous  to  say  to  any  readers  who  or  what 
Mr.  Quincy  was  or  is.  I  may  remark,  however,  that  his 
letter  will  be  welcome  evidence  to  those  who  love  to  believe, 
that  unyielding  tenacity  of  memory,  and  undimmed  clearness 
of  thought,  may  be  preserved  to  a  very  advanced  age. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  77 

JOSIAII  QUINCY  TO  THEOPIIILUS  PARSONS. 

Sm: 

It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  aid  the  design  you  commu- 
nicated to  me  in  your  favor  of  the  21st  instant,  of  writing  the  life 
of  your  father,  deserving  as  he  is  of  that  tribute  as  much  as 
was  any  of  his  contemporaries.  But  I  can  add  little  to  the 
facts  contained  in  the  records  of  the  time,  and  in  the  memory  of 
many  of  his  contemporaries  who  yet  survive.  I  was  far  too 
young  to  appreciate  his  talents  on  his  first  appearance  in  public 
life.  My  first  personal  acquaintance  was  as  a  student  at  the  bar, 
between  1790  and  1793,  in  which  relation  I  had  frequent  oppor- 
tunities to  hear  and  be  instructed  by  his  learning  and  arguments. 
When  he  moved  his  family  to  Boston,  he  resided  in  the  same 
street  (Peaii  Street)  with  me,  and  as  a  neighbor  I  had  occasional, 
and  sometimes  professional  intercourse  with  him ;  but  he  was  not 
a  man  to  encourage  frequent  and  desultory  intercourse.  He  had 
the  aspect  of  one  whose  thoughts  were  concentrated  on  topics 
having  little  sympathy  with  the  transient  occurrences  of  daily 
life.  Wherever  he  was,  he  was  regarded  somewhat  as  an  oracle, 
particularly  on  legal  questions,  and  in  shaping  the  course  of  politi- 
cal measures.  In  his  character  as  a  mathematician  and  as  a  clas- 
sical scholar,  he  stood  quite  as  high,  in  the  popular  opinion,  as  in 
that  of  a  lawyer.  In  visits  to  him  in  his  office,  when  not  engaged 
in  professional  pursuits,  I  have  found  him  reading  some  Greek 
author  in  the  original,  apparently  for  amusement  or  relaxation. 

My  earliest  remembrance  of  him  was  in  the  Convention  for  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  in  Massachusetts,  where, 
though  he  spoke  little,  his  influence  in  its  measures  was  not 
second  to  that  of  any  of  its  members.  Concerning  the  concili- 
atory resolutions  which  Hancock  offered  to  that  Convention,  you 
say,  "  They  were  written  by  my  father,  and  Hancock  read  them 
from  my  father's  manuscript."  In  the  first  statement  you  are 
right ;  in  the  last,  unquestionably  in  an  error.  Hancock  was  too 
cunning  for  that.  I  had  occasion,  recently,  to  have  my  attention 
drawn  to  that  point.  Mr.  T.  C.  Amory,  the  grandson  of  James 
Sullivan,  addressed  a  letter  to  me,  in  February  last,  stating  that 
he  had  found  Hancock's  conciliatory  resolutions  among  the  papers 
of  his  grandfather ;  and  that  it  was  from  that  paper  he  thought 
himself  entitled  to  consider  James  Sullivan  as  the  author  of  them. 


78  MEMOIR  OF 

An  extract  from  my  letter  to  Mr.  Amory  will  explain  my  opinion 
on  the  point. 

"  I  have  no  doubt,  as  you  state,  that  James  Sullivan,  afterwards 
Governor  of  this  State,  brought  the  amendments  Governor  Han- 
cock proposed  to  the  Convention  then  in  session,  and  which  were, 
in  fact,  the  conditions  on  which  he  gave  his  vote  for  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  that  those  amendments  were  in  Sullivan's  handwriting. 
It  is  also  true  that  Sullivan  was  the  confidential  adviser,  at  that 
time,  of  Governor  Hancock.  But  the  conclusion  you  draw  from 
this  fact,  that  Sullivan  was  the  draftsman  of  those  amendments, 
is  repugnant  to  all  the  statements  made  in  conversation  at  the 
time,  and  to  all  the  relations  which  then  existed  among  the  par- 
ties which  divided  the  Commonwealth.  That  Laco  (a  writer  at 
that  time  supposed  to  be  Stephen  Higginson)  did,  as  you  state, 
assert  that  Theophilus  Parsons  drafted  those  amendments,  I  have 
no  doubt.  Such  was  the  assertion  at  the  time  among  the  advo- 
cates of  the  Constitution,  though  of  course  not  bruited  about. 
The  advocates  of  the  Constitution  were  deeply  sensible  of  the 
importance  of  giving  Hancock  entire  credit  for  those  amend- 
ments, to  which  any  understanding  between  Hancock  and  those 
advocates  would  have  been  fatal.  Their  object  was  to  secure  the 
vote  of  Hancock  on  any  terms.  Although  these  amendments 
were  confidentially  stated  to  have  been  drafted  by  Parsons,  yet 
it  was  well  known  that  he  had  the  aid  and  concurrence  of  other 
leading  advocates  of  the  Constitution,  although  his  mind  was 
probably  predominating  in  the  conception  and  the  terms. 

"  The  general  facts  were  these :  both  Hancock  and  Samuel 
Adams  were,  from  the  first,  in  heart  and  soul  opposed  to  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  They  anticipated  that  it 
would  quench  the  beams  of  State  sovereignty,  in  which  their 
pride  and  power  were  concentrated.  They  were  both  the  most 
generally  popular  men  in  Massachusetts,  and,  united,  they  sup- 
posed their  opinion  would  be  all-influential,  and  at  the  outset, 
perhaps,  they  expected  to  defeat  it.  And  their  opposition  was 
not  yielded,  until  the  development  of  public  sentiment  led  them 
to  apprehend  that  the  Constitution  might  be  carried  in  spite  of 
their  opposition.  To  Hancock,  who  of  all  men  was  the  most 
sensitive  to  the  popular  pulse,  the  idea  that  the  Constitution 
might  be  carried  in  opposition  to  his  opinion  was  dreadful.  The 
desire  of  having  its  success,  if  it  must  be  carried,  attributed  to 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  79 

his  influence,  coincided  with  his  predominating  passions,  —  love  of 
popularity,  and  ambition  to  be  thought  the  pivot  on  which  great 
public  events  turned.  When  his  mind,  cither  by  its  own  action 
or  the  urgency  of  friends,  had  been  brought  to  the  conviction 
that  the  Constitution  might  be  adopted  notwithstanding  his  nega- 
tive, and  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  his  best  course  to 
join  the  advocates  of  the  Constitution  and  cast  the  weight  of  his 
voice  in  its  favor,  he  was  naturally  desirous  of  adopting  such  a 
course  as  would  be  satisfactory  to  them,  and  that,  in  some  form, 
such  an  understanding  should  be  effected  as  would  meet  their 
views,  and  yet  provide  a  safe  plank  by  which,  without  loss  of 
reputation,  he  might  pass  over  from  a  decided  opposition  to  an 
open  acquiescence  in  the  Constitution.  All  this  was  well  under- 
stood at  the  time.  That  Hancock's  amendments  had  been  delib- 
erately weighed  and  prepared  by  leading  advocates  of  the  Con- 
stitution, of  whom  Parsons  was  one  of  the  principal,  and  Judge 
Dana  another  (both  in  opposition  politically  to  Governor  Han- 
cock), was  circulated  while  these  events  were  in  progress  among 
the  friends  of  the  Constitution,  and  believed  unquestionably. 
By  what  means,  or  through  what  medium,  the  draft  of  those 
amendments  had  been  transmitted,  is  unknown  to  me,  but  of  the 
fact  I  can  have  no  doubt.  Their  appearing  in  Sullivan's  hand- 
writing, and  his  bringing  them  to  the  meeting-house,  is  quite 
reconcilable  with  the  above  fact.  Sullivan  was  the  known 
confidential  adviser  of  Hancock.  It  was  essential  to  Hancock's 
reputation  that  every  appearance  of  any  understanding  with  the 
leaders  of  the  advocates  for  the  Constitution  should  be  unknown, 
to  which  end  their  being  in  the  handwriting  of  his  known  adviser, 
and  transmitted  by  his  agency,  was  not  only  important,  but  in  a 
manner  essential. 

"  Such  were  the  views,  at  the  time  of  those  events,  I  was  led  to 
entertain,  and,  in  the  course  of  a  long  life,  I  have  not  heard  or 
known  anything  to  change  them.  James  Sullivan  was  a  man  of 
uncommon  intellectual  powers,  and  his  influence  over  the  mind 
of  Hancock  was  well  understood.  Party  feeling,  at  that  day, 
was  very  violent,  and  it  is  quite  impossible  that  there  should  have 
been  harmony  of  action  between  Parsons,  Dana,  and  Sullivan  in 
the  concoction  of  those  amendments.  The  current  of  public 
opinion  must  have  been  at  the  time  wholly  at  fault,  if  Mr.  Sulli- 
van had  any  agency  in  drafting  them." 


80  MEMOIR  OF 

I  have  copied  the  above  parts  of  a  letter  to  Mr.  Amory,  in 
reply  to  the  same  point,  as  the  best  mode  of  stating  my  opinions 
touching  the  subject  to  which  yours  alludes,  which  touches  a 
vein  of  thoughts  and  of  memories  easy  to  open,  but  difficult  to 
cicatrize.  And  like  old  divines,  after  they  had  finished  the 
nineteenth  head  of  their  discourse,  I  close  with,  "  This  must 
suffice  for  the  present." 

I  am,  respectfully,  your  friend  and  servant, 

JOSIAII    QuiXCY. 
Boston,  23  April,  1857. 

I  insert  also  a  letter  which  the  Hon.  James  Savage  was 
good  enough  to  send  me,  in  which  he  speaks  of  the  same 
topics  ;  and  which  all  will  be  glad  to  read,  who  are  inter- 
ested in  the  history  of  that  period,  and  who  like  to  listen 
to  indisputable  evidence. 

JAMES  SAVAGE  TO  TnEoriiiLrs  PARSONS. 

Boston,  May  4,  1857. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

Long  before  I  had  the  pleasure  of  ever  seeing  your  father,  I 
had  a  sort  of  acquaintance  with  him  from  frequent  conversations 
about  him,  with  which  I  was  favored  by  my  uncle  and  guardian, 
the  late  Judge  Tudor,  who  was  his  classmate.  Opinions  thus 
gradually  formed  were  strengthened  by  notices  derived  from  the 
late  Chief  Justice  Parker,  under  whose  instruction  I  began  the 
study  of  the  law  at  Portland,  where  he  then  lived,  in  1803. 
Before  your  father  was  appointed  successor  of  Chief  Justice 
Dana,  I  had  the  same  conviction  with  the  rest  of  our  community, 
that  he  was  the  fittest  man  for  that  exalted  situation  :  and  after 
coining  to  Boston,  in  1805,  to  finish  my  preparation  for  the  bar, 
I  diligently  watched  his  course,  and  benefited  by  his  administra- 
tion of  justice  at  n/xi  priux  and  law  terms. 

That  he  was  more  instrumental  in  the  formation  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  Massachusetts  than  any  other  citizen,  was  the  opinion 
of  every  one  who  knew  him  as  the  author  of  the  famous  Essex 
Kesult,  which  exhibited  the.  necessary  elements  of  fundamental 
law  for  our  republic,  with  as  much  completeness  and  precision  as 
human  sagacity  could  ever  supply. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  gj 

From  the  time  of  throwing  off  the  royal  government  for  its 
violation  of  the  Charter  of  the  Province  of  1691  and  its  utter  dis- 
regard of  the  foundation  principles  of  English  liberty,  Massachu- 
setts acted  Avithout  any  constitution ;  yet  the  authority  of  law 
was  sustained,  and  a  form  of  civil  polity  adhered  to,  by  following 
the  guidance  of  that  Charter.  More  direct  application  of  rules 
controlling  the  machinery  of  government  than  under  that  instru- 
ment was  attainable,  in  our  condition  of  revolution  and  of  inde- 
pendence necessarily  resulting,  seemed  urgent  and  indispensable. 
In  February,  1778,  our  General  Court,  which  by  order  or  desire 
of  its  predecessor  had  been  elected  for  this  purpose,  in  part,  sent 
out  to  the  people  a  form  of  government  for  their  consideration, 
which  was  very  promptly  by  them  rejected  by  a  vote  of  nearly 
five  to  one  of  the  voters.  Very  easy  it  is  to  account  for  such 
a  result.  In  several  parts  of  that  document  strange  crudities 
appear ;  as,  for  a  remarkable  instance,  when  you  recollect  how 
well  the  body  of  our  people  had  exercised  their  faculties  in  the 
controversy  of  1774,  as  to  the  Judges  of  the  Superior  Court 
receiving  salaries  from  the  crown  instead  of  the  public  treasury 
of  the  Province,  as  ever  before  had  been  the  rule,  and  in  the 
close  of  which,  all  those  judges  who  accepted  such  compensation 
were  impeached  by  the  representatives  of  the  people,  —  yet  the 
provision  as  to  tenure  "during  good  behavior"  —  that  must  be 
always  regarded  as  the  sine  qua  non  of  judicial  independence, 
without  which  there  can  exist  no  sincere  republic  or  government 
of  laws  —  was  childishly  extended  to  include  justices  of  the  peace, 
as  if  to  incite  contempt  and  provoke  opposition.  More  puerile 
was  the  total  inadequacy  of  constituting  an  Executive  depart- 
ment especially  for  that  state  of  foreign  war  when  Massachusetts 
must  assert  equality  of  rights  with  other  nations,  and  in  the 
exercise  of  its  belligerent  privileges,  through  its  navy,  might  be 
exposed  to  have  controversy  with  every  neutral  maritime  power. 
In  that  Constitution,  commonly  called  Judge  Paine's,  one  would 
suppose  the  seat  of  Governor  had  been  artistically  provided  for 
the  enjoyment  of  an  individual,  rather  than  the  general  good  in 
support  of  every  individual's  right.  As  chairman  of  the  Boston 
Board  of  Selectmen,  John  Hancock  had,  before  the  Revolution 
began,  shown  that  his  accomplishments  were  fully  adequate  to 
that  station,  in  which  dignity  and  grace  like  his  were  never  sur- 
passed ;  and  something  like  the  same  exercise  of  talents  and 
6 


82  MEMOIR  OF 

share  of  responsibleness  -would  have  attended  the  pageant  of 
Executive  head  of  the  Commonwealth  under  the  rejected  form. 
Early  in  the  year  1778,  a  Convention  of  Delegates  of  the 
County  of  Essex  was  held.  It  is  not  in  my  power  to  give  the 
names  of  the  authors,  or  even  to  recollect  the  sequence  of  argu- 
ment in  The  Result,  as  the  issue  of  their  deliberation  was  called. 
Of  the  modest  pamphlet  you  may  easily  believe  that  my  impres- 
sion has  been  somewhat  weakened  in  the  four  or  five  and  thirty 
years  since  I  saw  a  copy  ;  but  the  seminal  principles  of  our  "  gov- 
ernment of  laws,  and  not  of  men,"  that  has  so  many  years  made 
my  native  State  respected  as  having  the  best  of  any  frames  of 
polity,  (as  these  concretions  arc  termed,)  at  least  on  our  side  of 
the  water,  were  fully  exhibited  and  skilfully  enforced  in  your 
father's  writing  of  that  tract.  Pickering  and  Goodhue  of  Salem, 
Choate  of  Ipswich,  Phillips  of  Andovcr,  Clcaveland  of  Rowley, 
Chief  Justice  Sargent  of  Ilaverhill,  Judge  Ilolten  of  Danvers, 
above  all,  Cabot  of  Beverly,  must  have  assisted  with  their  wisdom 
or  their  sympathy,  though  which  of  them  may  have  attended  the 
Convention,  if  any,  is  unknown.  Farther  aid  would  come  from 
his  admirable  townsmen,  Jonathan  Jackson  and  Nathaniel  Tracy. 
All  these  were  associated  in  that  Convention,  so  soon  after  called 
by  our  General  Court  to  assemble  in  September,  1779  ;  and  that 
Essex  should  not  have  all  the  superior  minds  of  the  republic  to 
discuss  the  substance  and  model  the  form  of  the  supreme  law 
to  be  offered  as  the  digest  of  wisdom,  other  parts  furnished 
John  Adams,  James  Bowdoin,  Samuel  Adams,  Increase  Simmer, 
Nathaniel  Gorham,  James  Sullivan,  Levi  Lincoln,  Caleb  Strong, 
William  dishing,  II.  T.  Paine,  and  Rev.  Samuel  West,  to  com- 
bine sagacity  and  experience  in  the  product.  You  may  judge, 
in  some  fair  degree,  how  much  is  due  to  the  sobriety  of  the  mem- 
bers of  that  assembly,  during  the  stormy  period  of  our  history,  by 
the  curious  exhibit  of  members  attending  the  sessions,  as  shown 
by  the  journal.  At  the  end  of  October,  before  deliberation  began 
on  the  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Thirty,  chosen  early  in  Sep- 
tember, to  draw  up  the  Declaration  of  Rights  and  Form  of  Gov- 
ernment, which  was  offered  on  the  28th  of  October,  the  members 
were  three,  hundred  and  ttrtlve.  The  first  question  which  was  put 
to  vote  by  a  division  of  the  house  was  on  Saturday,  November 
Cth ;  and  it  was  on  the  cardinal  point  of  independence  of  the 
judiciary,  which  was  settled  by  seventy-eight  against  thirty-five, 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  83 

the  -whole  number  of  votes  cast  being  one  hundred  and  thirteen. 
The  next  question  brought  in  one  hundred  and  nineteen.  After 
the  recess  taken  to  permit  the  members  to  go  home  for  consulta- 
tion with  their  constituents,  only  fifty  appear  on  the  2Cth  of  Jan- 
uary, 1 780,  and  sixty  the  following  day  ;  but  from  that  time  to 
the  end  of  February,  not  more  than  eighty  were  counted  at  any 
day,  except  on  the  4th  of  that  month,  when  eighty-four  were 
seen.  Such  was  the  confidence  reposed  in  the  integrity  of  that 
committee  and  the  wisdom  of  their  report. 

Once  more  the  mature  skill  of  statesmen  and  the  profound 
sagacity  of  observing  students  were  called  into  operation  to 
establish  the  glorious  Union  that  could  alone  preserve  the  happi- 
ness of  Massclmsetts ;  and  in  which  a  dozen  other  States  were  to 
join  for  setting  up  a  power  to  restrain  each  and  benefit  all.  Our 
Federal  Constitution  owes  to  your  father,  for  its  wonderful  sim- 
plicity and  skill  of  organization,  nothing  beyond  the  wise  dis- 
courses so  few  years  before  produced  with  reference  only  to  that 
of  this  Commonwealth,  or  the  deep  sagacity  often  invoked  in 
their  perplexing  politics  by  other  members  of  the  confederacy, 
termed  in  way  of  contempt  the  United  States,  who  were  rapidly 
moving,  all  without  common  principles  of  action,  to  the  wildest 
consummation  of  anarchy.  Severally,  these  thirteen  members 
of  the  great  family  of  civilized  nations,  in  1787,  were  an  offence 
in  the  nostrils  of  each  other ;  while,  conjunctly,  they  were  the 
laughing-stock  of  all  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Yet  the  projection  of  that  immortal  model  of  a  government 
was  to  be  lamented  as  an  untimely  birth,  unless  it  should  be 
accepted.  Tain  would  be  the  dreadful  experience  of  danger, 
deepening  every  hour  in  rebellions  in  Massachusetts,  or  the  self- 
inflicted  disgrace  of  violations  of  the  treaty  of  peace  in  Virginia  ; 
vain  the  anxious  labors  of  Washington,  more  wearisome  in  three 
years  of  civil  anarchy  than  in  the  seven  years  of  impoverished 
campaigns  ;  vain  the  cautious  explorations  through  quicksands, 
without  the  benefit  of  soundings  or  buoys,  that  guided  Jay  and 
Madison,  Morris  and  Hamilton,  in  laying  out  that  chart  for  the 
ship  of  state,  —  unless  it  were  ratified  by  MASSACHUSETTS.  Vir- 
ginia, New  York,  and  North  Carolina  would  forthwith  reject  the 
benignant  company  of  such  a  stranger  ;  and  even  Rhode  Island, 
that  must  derive  more  blessing  than  any  other  family,  in  propor- 
tion to  its  numbers,  would  suspiciously  have  forbidden  his  visit. 


84  MEMOIR  OF 

Fear  that  the  majority  of  our  Convention  of  1 788  was  adverse 
to  the  proposed  Federal  compact,  whose  effect  would,  perhaps, 
be  to  elevate  the  body  of  people  from  being  brawling  mobs 
in  a  dwindling  community  to  become  citizens  of  a  great  nation; 
yet  necessarily  would  reduce  a  few  leaders  of  town-meetings 
to  their  proper  level,  was  generally  diffused  among  those  who 
desired  a  better  result.  It  was  a  wise  apprehension  lest  the  plan 
was  too  good  to  meet  the  acceptance  of  the  agricultural  part  of 
our  State,  before  the  country  should  be  subjected  to  a  wider  and 
even  universal  prostration.  An  indistinct  dread  of  acknowl- 
edging any  other  sovereignty  than  that  of  Massachusetts  with- 
stood the  experience  of  Dana,  the  judgment  of  King,  the  pure 
sentiment  of  Gore,  and  the  liquid  wisdom  of  Ames,  gurgitibus 
vastis  cxundans.  It  might  be  silenced,  but  it  could  not  be  con- 
vinced. This  childish  dread  was,  therefore,  to  be  overcome  ;  and 
your  father,  late  in  the  session,  no  doubt  with  the  concurrence  and 
advice  of  several  of  the  prominent  members  in  the  Convention, 
submitted  a  draft  of  sundry  amendments  to  Governor  Hancock, 
the  President  of  the  assembly,  chosen  in  his  absence  from  that 
body,  (in  which  he  had  never  attended  an  hour  before,)  on  the 
9th  of  January,  but  in  which  he  was  expected  to  take  his  seat  on 
the  last  day  of  the  same  month.  All  the  parts  of  the  Constitu- 
tion had  been  discussed,  and  the  Vice-President,  a  more  able 
officer,  William  Gushing,  (appointed  one  of  the  Justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  on  the  organization  of  that 
tribunal.)  had  filled  the  chair  up  to  that  day.  On  that  day,  Jan- 
uary 31st,  your  father  made  the  motion  "  to  assent  to  and  ratify 
this  Constitution."  At  the  next  meeting,  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
same  day,  his  Excellency,  who  had  in  the  morning  session  men- 
tioned his  intention  of  "  submitting  a  proposition  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Convention,"  made  the  important  motion  for 
amendments,  as  written  by  your  father.  AVell  expressed,  yet  of 
the  effect  in  no  single  provision  to  alter  the  force  and  principle 
of  a  solitary  clause  in  that  instrument,  but  only  to  supply  defi- 
ciencies and  explain  the  import  of  particular  clauses  in  it,  this 
proposition  was  received  with  the  profoundcst  respect.  Mr. 
Adams,  who  had  very  seldom  taken  any  part  in  the  discussions 
during  the  month,  yet  had  expressed,  seven  days  before,  some 
"  difficulties  and  doubts  respecting  parts  of  the  proposed  Con- 
stitution," but,  as  a  member  for  Boston  in  this  assembly,  was  by 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  35 

his  constituents  expected  to  sustain  it,  and  who  doubtless  had 
been  consulted  by  the  writer  of  the  amendments,  —  entitled  also 
to  great  weight  for  his  long  experience  in  most  of  the  Continental 
Congresses  during  the  war,  —  was  the  Jirst  gentleman  to  propose 
that  the  amendments  be  considered  before  action  on  the  motion 
made  by  the  member  from  Newburyport.  His  plan  was  adopted, 
and  the  next  day  Governor  Bowdoin,  in  a  set  speech,  very  well 
reported,  approved  the  amendments,  in  which  he  was  followed 
by  Judge  Dana,  in  the  afternoon ;  and  the  next  day  by  Mr. 
Strong,  in  a  particular  examination  of  each  of  the  articles,  nine 
in  number,  of  the  submitted  proposition  ;  which  was  then,  by 
unanimous  vote,  referred  on  Saturday  to  a  committee  of  twenty- 
five,  Governor  Bowdoin  being  chairman.  Of  course  that  committee 
was  selected  with  great  judgment.  Your  father,  Dana,  Strong, 
and  Sedgwick,  were  on  it ;  and  the  other  side  was  fairly  repre- 
sented, as  must  be  apparent,  for,  after  all  the  wisdom  and  influ- 
ence that  could  be  exerted  on  such  vital  interests,  nine  of  them 
voted  for  the  rejection  of  the  Constitution.  The  Report  Avas  pre- 
sented on  Monday,  February  4th,  and  the  diffusion  of  harmony 
was  encouraged  by  Rev.  Mr.  Backus  of  Middleborough,  followed, 
the  next  day,  by  Mr.  Ames  of  Dedham  and  Mr.  Barrell  of  York. 
This  last  gentleman  had  been  of  the  committee,  and  seems  to 
have  become  a  convert  from  the  opposition.  On  Wednesday, 
Mr.  Adams  introduced  some  amendments  to  be  added  to  those  in 
the  committee's  report ;  but  they  did  not  receive  the  approba- 
tion of  those  whom  they  were  designed  to  conciliate,  and  after 
some  debate  he  withdrew  them.  By  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stillman  a 
very  effective  support  was  given  in  the  forenoon,  and  Turner  of 
Scituate  and  Symmes  of  Andover  in  the  afternoon  renounced 
their  opposition,  in  direct  terms ;  and  the  closing  by  Governor 
Hancock  was  succeeded  by  the  vote  of  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven  against  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight,  there  being  only  nine 
members  absent ;  which  was  a  most  honorable  verdict  from  the 
body  that  could  have  counted  fifty  majority,  as  is  believed,  at 
its  first  meeting,  adverse  to  the  most  important  provisions  of  the 
Federal  Constitution. 

No  doubt  exists  of  the  principal  fact  of  the  drawing  of  the 
amendments  by  your  father,  as  I  had  it  from  the  late  Colonel 
Joseph  May,  who  acted  in  the  settlement  of  Governor  Hancock's 
estate,  from  his  death,  in  November,  1793,  and  was  of  course  inti- 


86  MEMOIR  OF 

mately  acquainted  with  the  relations  between  Parsons  and  Han- 
cock, and  paid  occasionally  the  fees  for  professional  services  by 
your  father,  as  shown  in  the  administrator's  accounts  at  various 
times.  lie  had  often  seen  and  handled  the  original  manuscript 
furnished  by  your  father  and  produced  by  the  President  of  the 
Convention,  whose  habitual  self-indulgence  would  wish  to  be 
spared,  even  if  in  health,  the  labor  of  making  a  copy,  though 
abundant  apology  existed,  up  to  the  very  day  preceding  his  first 
coming  to  the  assembly,  on  which  he  brought  forward  the  propo- 
sition, in  his  inveterate  gout.  Perhaps  the  precise  expression 
implying  the  identical  paper  may  be  incorrect,  for  a  fair  copy 
may  have  been  used  by  the  Governor  to  lay  upon  the  table  ; 
and  I  have  heard  that,  by  examination  of  the  original  papers 
in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth,  it  appears 
that  the  amendments  are  not  in  the  handwriting  of  either  your 
father  or  Governor  Hancock. 

Of  that  happy  ratification  the  general  effect  is  well  observed 
throughout  the  civilized  world  ;  and  I  would  gladly  fasten  atten- 
tion of  many  (who  in  our  times  calculate  the  value  of  the  Union) 
on  the  special  benefits  of  the  measure.  Prom  the  hopeless  state 
of  debt,  sunk  so  low  that  it  was  not  matter  even  of  exertion  to 
pay  the  interest ;  from  the  universal  public  distraction  between 
equal  States  owning  no  superior,  and  the  private  distrust,  when 
no  law  could  be  invoked  to  compel  justice  to  be  done  between 
man  and  man,  the  new  creation  sprang  from  our  chaotic  ele- 
ments, to  restore  order,  diffuse,  light,  support  equity,  vindicate 
honor,  establish  individual  happiness  by  national  prosperity,  take 
away  our  reproach  as  a  by-word,  and  make  us  a  name  and  a 
praise  in  the  earth.  Sun,  moon,  and  all  the  host  of  heaven, 
exulted  in  the  occasion  of  shedding  their  benignest  aspects  on 
the  commerce,  without  which  our  country  could  do  nothing  for 
raising  any  other  portion  of  our  fellow-men,  but  with  which  in 
a  single,  generation  we  might  outvie  the  growth  of  any  other 
nation  for  three  centuries. 

Excuse,  my  reference,  as  a  statist,  to  the  circumstances  of  my 
native  city.  Its  growth  in  population,  for  seventy  years  pre- 
ceding this  Convention,  had  not  equalled  thirty  per  cent',  and  in 
the  seventy  years  following,  nearly  nine  hundred  per  cent  mark 
the  increase.  When  I  was  a  boy,  as  many  houses  fell  down,  or 
were  torn  down,  in  a  year,  as  there  were  new  ones  erected. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  37 

When  two  houses  were  built  in  a  season,  it  made  a  town's  talk ; 
and  I  suppose  twice  two  hundred  has  been  the  addition  for  each 
year  in  the  present  generation. 

With  great  regard,  your  obedient 

JAMES  SAVAGE. 

At  this  distance  of  time,  when  we  have  forgotten  the 
personal  passions  and  interests  which  doubtless  existed  in 
that  Convention,  and  often  influenced  their  debates  if  they 
did  not  determine  their  conclusions,  we  are  struck  by  the 
appearance  at  least  —  by  the  reality,  as  I  believe  —  of  in- 
tense earnestness  which  prevailed  among  all  parties.  Many 
were  the  interesting  topics  discussed.  Slavery,  now  absorb- 
ing so  much  attention,  was  not  forgotten  then.  From  the 
debate  on  the  paragraph  which  counts  two  freemen  equal 
to  five  slaves,  both  for  taxes  and  for  representation,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  gain  on  the  "  taxes  "  made  the  loss  on  the 
"  representatives  "  quite  endurable. 

The  third  paragraph  of  the  second  section  being  read, 
Mr.  KING  rose  to  explain  it.  There  has,  says  he,  been  much 
misconception  on  this  section.  It  is  a  principle  of  this  Constitu- 
tion, that  representation  and  taxation  should  go  hand  in  hand. 
This  paragraph  states  that  the  number  of  free  persons  shall  be 
determined  by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons,  in- 
cluding those  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of  years  and  excluding 
Indians  not  taxed,  three  fifths  of  all  other  persons.  These  per- 
sons are  the  slaves.  By  this  rule  is  representation  and  taxation 
to  be  apportioned.  And  it  was  adopted,  because  it  was  the  lan- 
guage of  all  America.  According  to  the  present  Confederation, 
ratified  in  1781,  the  sums  for  the  general  welfare  and  defence 
should  be  apportioned  according  to  the  surveyed  lands,  and  im- 
provements thereon,  in  the  several  States.  But  it  hath  never 
been  in  the  power  of  Congress  to  follow  that  rule ;  the  returns 
from  the  several  States  being  so  A-ery  imperfect. 

Mr.  WEDGERY  asked  if  a  boy  of  six  years  of  age  was  to  be 
considered  as  a  free  person. 

Mr.  KING,  in  answer,  said,  all  persons  born  free  were  to  be 
considered  as  freemen ;  and,  to  make  the  idea  of  taxation  by 


88  MEMOIR  OF 

numbers  more  intelligible,  said,  that  five  negro  children  of  South 
Carolina  are  to  pay  as  much  tax  as  the  three  Governors  of  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  and  Connecticut. 

Mr.  GOIIIIAM  thought  the  proposed  section  much  in  favor  of 
Massachusetts ;  and  if  it  operated  against  any  State,  it  was  Penn- 
sylvania, because  they  have  more  white  persons  bound  than  any 

other He  concluded  by  saying,  that  the  Constitution 

provides  for  an  increase  of  members,  as  numbers  increase,  and 
that  in  fifty  years  there  will  be  three  hundred  and  sixty  ;  in  one 
hundred  years,  fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred,  if  the  Constitution  last 
so  long. 

Judge  DAXA drew  a  parallel  between  the  Eastern  and 

Southern  States,  and  showed  the  injustice  done  the  former  by  the 
present  mode  of  apportioning  taxes,  according  to  surveyed  land 
and  improvements,  and  the  consequent  advantage  therefrom  to 
the  latter,  their  property  not  lying  in  improvements,  in  buildings, 
&c.  In  reply  to  the  remark  of  some  gentleman,  that  the  Southern 
States  were  favored  in  this  mode  of  apportionment,  by  having 
five  of  their  negroes  set  against  three  persons  in  the  Eastern, 
the  honorable  Judge  observed,  that  the  negroes  of  the  Southern 
States  work  no  longer  than  when  the  eye  of  the  driver  is  on 
them.  Can,  asked  he,  that  land  nourish  like  this,  which  is  culti- 
vated by  the  hands  of  freemen  ?  And  are  not  three  of  these 
independent  freemen  of  more  real  advantage  to  a  State  than  five 
of  those  poor  slaves  ?  As  a  friend  to  equal  taxation,  he  rejoiced 
that  an  opportunity  was  presented  in  this  Constitution  to  change 
this  unjust  mode  of  apportionment.  Indeed,  concluded  he,  from 
a  survey  of  every  part  of  the  Constitution,  I  think  it  the  best 
that  the  wisdom  of  man  could  suggest. 

Mr.  NASSON  remarked  on  the  statement  of  the  Hon.  Mr.  King 
by  saying  that  the  honorable  gentleman  should  have  gone  fur- 
ther, and  shown  us  the  other  side  of  the  question.  It  is  a  good 
rule  that  works  both  ways ;  and  the  gentleman  should  also  have 
told  us,  that  three  of  our  infants  in  the  cradle  are  to  be  rated  as 
high  as  five  of  the  working  negroes  of  Virginia.  Mr.  Nasson 
adverted  to  a  statement  of  Mr.  King,  who  had  said,  that  five 
negro  children  of  South  Carolina  were  equally  ratable  as  three 
Governors  of  New  England,  and  wished,  he  said,  the  honorable 
gentleman  had  considered  the  question  upon  the  other  side,  as  it 
would  then  appear  that  this  State  will  pay  as  great  a  tax  for 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  89 

three  children  in  the  cradle  as  any  of  the  Southern  States  will  for 
five  hearty  working  negro  men.  lie  hoped,  he  said,  while  we 
were  making  a  new  government,  we  should  make  it  better  than 
the  old  one ;  for  if  we  had  made  a  bad  bargain  before,  as  had 
been  hinted,  it  was  a  reason  why  we  should  make  a  better  one 
now. 

Mr.  RANDAL  begged  leave  to  answer  a  remark  of  the  lion. 
Mr.  Dana,  which  he  thought  reflected  on  the  barrenness  of  the 
Southern  States.  He  spoke  from  his  own  personal  knowledge,  he 
said,  and  he  could  say,  that  the  land  in  genei-al  in  those  States 
was  preferable  to  any  he  ever  saw. 

Judge  DAXA  rose  to  set  the  gentleman  right.  He  said  it  was 
not  the  quality  of  the  lands,  but  the  manner  of  tilling  it,  that  he 
alluded  to. 

Friday,  January  18,  1788. 

The  third  paragraph  of  the  second  section  of  Article  I.  still 
under  consideration. 

Hon.  Mr.  DALTOX  opened  the  conversation  with  some  remarks 
on  Mr.  Randal's  positive  assertions  of  the  fertility  of  the  South- 
ern States.  He  said,  from  his  own  observation,  and  from  ac- 
counts he  had  seen,  which  were  better,  he  could  say  that  the 
gentleman's  remark  was  not  perfectly  accurate.  The  honorable 
gentleman  showed  why  it  was  not  so  by  stating  the  inconsidera- 
ble product  of  the  land,  which,  though  it  might  in  part  be  owing 
to  the  faithlessness  and  ignorance  of  the  slaves  who  cultivate  it, 
he  said,  was  in  a  greater  measure  owing  to  the  want  of  heart  in 
the  soil. 

Mr.  RANDAL.  Mr.  President,  I  rise  to  make  an  observation  on 
the  suggestion  of  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Xewbury.  I 
have,  sir,  travelled  in  the  Southern  States,  and  should  be  glad  to 
compare  our  knowledge  on  the  subject  together.  In  Carolina, 
Mr.  President,  if  they  do  not  get  more  than  twenty  or  thirty 
bushels  of  corn  from  an  acre,  they  think  it  a  small  crop.  On  the 
low  lands  they  sometimes  get  forty.  I  hope,  sir,  these  great  men 
of  eloquence  and  learning  will  not  try  to  make  arguments  to 
make  this  Constitution  go  down,  right  or  wrong.  An  old  saying, 
sir,  is,  that  a  good  thing  don't  need  praising ;  but,  sir,  it  takes  the 
best  men  in  the  State  to  gloss  this  Constitution,  which,  they  say, 
is  the  best  that  human  wisdom  can  invent.  In  praise  of  it,  we 
hear  the  reverend  clergy,  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and 


90  MEMOIR  OF 

the  ablest  lawyers,  exerting  thc'ir  utmost  abilities.  Now,  sir,  sup- 
pose all  this  artillery  turned  the  other  way,  and  these  great  men 
would  speak  half  as  much  against  it,  we  might  eomplete  our  busi- 
ness, and  go  home  in  forty-eight  hours.  Let  us,  sir,  consider  we 
are  acting  for  the  people,  and  for  ages  unborn  ;  let  us  deal  fairly 
and  alK)ve-l)oard.  Every  one  eomes  here  to  discharge  his  duty  to 
his  constituents,  and  I  hope  none  will  be  biased  by  the  best  ora- 
tors; because  we  are  not  acting  for  ourselves.  I  think  Congress 
ought  to  have  power,  such  as  is  for  the  good  of  the  nation ;  but 
what  it  is,  let  a  more  able  man  than  I  tell  us. 

Mr.  DAWKS  said  he  was  sorry  to  hear  so  many  objections  raised 
against  the  paragraph  under  consideration.  lie  thought  them 
wholly  unfounded ;  that  the  black  inhabitants  of  the  Southern 
States  must  be  considered  either  as  slaves,  and  as  so  much  prop- 
erty, or  in  the  character  of  so  many  freemen  ;  if  the  former,  why 
should  they  not  be  wholly  represented  ?  Our  own  State  laws 
and  Constitution  would  lead  us  to  consider  those  blacks  as  free- 
men, and  so  indeed  would  our  own  ideas  of  natural  justice.  If, 
then,  they  are  freemen,  they  might  form  an  equal  basis  for  rep- 
resentation as  though  they  were  all  white  inhabitants.  In  either 
view,  therefore,  he  could  not  see  that  the  Northern  States  would 
suffer,  but  directly  to  the  contrary.  He  thought,  however,  that 
gentlemen  would  do  well  to  connect  the  passage  in  dispute  with 
another  article  in  the  Constitution,  that  permits  Congress,  in  the 
year  IKON,  wholly  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  slaves,  and  in  the 
mean  time  to  impose  a  duty  of  ten  dollars  a  head  on  such  blacks 
as  should  be  imported  before  that  period.  Besides,  by  the  new 
Constitution,  every  particular  State  is  left  to  its  own  option  to- 
tally to  prohibit  the  introduction  of  slaves  into  its  own  territories. 
"\Vhat  could  the  Convention  do  more?  The  members  of  the 
Southern  States,  like  ourselves,  have  their  prejudices.  It  would 
not  do  to  aliolish  slavery  by  an  act  of  Congress  in  a  moment,  and 
so  destroy  what  our  Southern  brethren  consider  as  propertv. 
But  we  may  say,  that,  although  slavery  is  not  smitten  by  an  apo- 
plexy, yet  it  has  received  a  mortal  wound,  and  will  die  of  a  con- 
sumption. 

These  extracts  ore  taken  from  the  edition  of  the  Debates 
of  the  Convention  before,  referred  to.  They  were  made 
generally,  no  doubt,  by  the  editors  or  reporters  of  the  news- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  9^ 

papers  from  which  they  are  taken,  with  more  or  less  aid 
from  the  speakers  themselves.  My  father  kept  for  his  own 
use  brief  and  condensed  notes  of  the  debates,  —  such  notes  as 
a  lawyer  takes  of  a  case  in  which  he  is  interested.  Many 
of  the  sheets  containing  these  I  found,  a  few  years  since,  and 
placed  in  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  whence  they  were  taken 
and  printed  in  the  same  volume.  It  may  be  amusing  to 
compare  the  somewhat  stately  report  of  the  newspapers 
with  the  notes  of  my  father.  He  says  of  this  same  debate : 

Ordered  to  proceed  to  the  next  paragraph,  viz. :  "  Representa- 
tives and  direct  taxes,  &c.,  &c.  —  Georgia  three." 

Hon.  Mr.  KIXG.  The  principle  on  which  this  paragraph  is 
founded  is,  that  taxation  and  representation  should  go  hand  in 
hand.  By  the  Confederation,  the  apportionment  is  upon  sur- 
veyed land,  the  buildings  and  improvements.  The  rule  could 
never  be  assessed.  A  new  rule  has  been  proposed  by  Congress, 
similar  to  the  present  rule,  which  has  been  adopted  by  eleven 
States,  —  all  but  Xew  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island. 

Mr.  "WEDGERY  objects  to  the  rule,  as  apprentices  are  not  free- 
men, but  blunders  about  it. 

Mr.  KIXG  explains  — 

Mr.  SHURTLEFF.  His  difficulty  is,  our  negroes  are  free,  but 
those  of  other  States  are  not.  But  the  number  of  representa- 
tives first  chosen  — 

Gen.  THOMPSON.  The  rule  is  unequal,  as  we  have  more 
children  than  the  luxurious  inhabitants  of  the  Southern  States. 
Congress  will  have  no  impost  or  excise,  but  lay  the  whole  tax  on 
polls.  AVe  live  longer  than  they  live.  We  live  to  one  hundred ; 
they,  to  forty. 

Mr.  WEDGERY  Avants  to  know  whether  all  white  infants  are 
free  persons.  If  they  are,  we  are  over-taxed. 

Hon.  Mr.  KIXG.  All  persons  born  free  are  counted  among 
free  persons,  to  which  three  fifths  of  all  persons  born  or  imported 
slaves,  make  the  census. 

Mr.  WEDGERY.  If  Mr.  King  is  right,  then  we  shall  pay  one 
quarter  of  the  debt. 

Mr.  GOIIHAM.     Mr.  "NVedsjerv  is  totallv  in  the  wronjr.     It  will 


92  MEMOIR  OF 

lessen  our  old  proportion  nearly  one  seventh.  As  eleven  States 
have  agreed  to  this  rule,  among  which  is  Massachusetts,  it  is 
a  rule  most  likely  to  be  adopted.  As  to  representation  men- 
tioned — 

Col.  FCLLKR.  The  arguments  against  the  representation  are 
groundless.  As  the  rule  of  proportion  is  by  numbers,  five  slaves 
to  three  freemen  is  but  equal,  for  slaves  arc  but  chattels. 

lion.  Mr.  DANA.  If  this  government  was  a  consolidation,  and 
not  a  confederation,  he  should  then  think  the  number  too  small. 
But  as  it  is  federal,  and  we  have  our  own  governments  to  sup- 
port, the  expense  would  have  been  too  great.  We  can  send 
seven  on  the  old  plan,  but  have  only  sent  four  or  five,  which 
proves  the  sense  of  the  people  not  to  have  a  large  representation. 
The  Constitution  provides  for  increasing  the  representatives. 
'Tis  true  Congress  are  not  bound  to  increase  representation  as 
numbers  increase,  nor  should  they ;  for,  from  the  rapidity  of  pop- 
ulation, the  representation  would  be  enormous.  AVe  can  instruct 
our  representatives ;  they  will  not  dare  to  disobey  them.  The 
old  rule  of  apportionment  by  lands  was  against  this  State.  Our 
lands  arc  worth  more  by  the  acre.  Lands  cultivated  by  slaves 
are  not  worth  as  much  as  lands  cultivated  by  freemen.  Slaves 
arc  their  masters'  moneys,  and  at  their  risk  ;  and  it  would  be 
unjust  to  tax  a  slave  as  much  as  a  freeman.  If  we  think  there 
should  be  a  difference,  the  only  question  would  be,  what  differ- 
ence. The  States  have  agreed  in  Convention  on  materials, 
which  we  have  not.  The  Southern  States  have  not  half  the 
value  of  buildings  we  have,  arising  from  the  climate  and  manner 
of  living. 

Hon.  Mr.  "\ViiiTK.  If  we  are  to  be  taxed  by  numbers,  it  will 
ruin  all  the  poor  people ;  but  I  do  not  understand  the  matter, 
and  will  wait  to  hear  it  explained. 

Mr.  SirruTi.KKK  wants  to  know  whether  five  smart  negro 
slaves  arc  to  be  equal  to  three  of  our  children  V 

Mr.  XASSOX   thinks  lx>th   sides  should   be   stated.     Mr.  Kin"- 

O 

says  five  of  their  infant  slaves  are  equal  to  three  of  our  flovern- 
ors ;  but  three  of  our  infants  are  equal  to  five  of  their  healthv, 
strong  slaves.  Hesifles,  though  our  climates  make  us  build 
houses,  yet  we  have  to  work  ;ill  summer  for  winter.  Also,  the 
representation  is  unequal  between  us  and  New  Hampshire;  also, 
our  negroes  are  all  free,  and  theirs  arc  slaves. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  93 

Mr.  RANDAL.  Lands  in  the  Southern  States  are  as  good  as 
ours,  if  not  better.  It  produces  everything.  Mr.  Dana  is  mis- 
taken ;  but  as  to  the  slaves,  he  is  about  right.  The  laboring  part 
of  the  free  men  in  the  Southern  States  can  live  upon  two  days' 
work  as  easily  as  we  can  upon  six.  They  can  work  all  winter  ; 
we  cannot. 

January  18,  1788. 

Mr.  DALTON  is  in  favor  of  the  method  of  fixing  the  census ; 
it  is  much  in  our  favor. 

Mr.  COOLEY  asks  how  the  direct  [tax]  is  to  be  apportioned 
among  the  inhabitants  of  any  State. 

Gen.  BROOKS,  of  Lincoln.  No  rule  is  fixed  in  the  Constitu- 
tion ;  that  is  a  legislative  act,  for  Congress  to  determine. 

Mr.  RANDAL  wants  to  know  how  far  Mr.  Dalton  has  travelled. 
Denies  Mr.  Dalton's  facts. 

Dr.  HOLTON  rises  to  give  light ;  mentions  the  old  rule  of  the 
census ;  found  impracticable ;  compelled  to  have  recourse  to 
numbers,  after  long  debate.  As  to  the  rule  of  representing  a 
State's  proportion,  Congress  must  hereafter  determine  the  matter, 
and  make  an  internal  tax,  which  is  an  imperium  in  imperio  ;  it 
will  bring  on  a  war.  I  think  the  new  rule  is  not  in  our  favor, 
but  am  in  favor  of  it,  for  it  is  all  the  rule  we  can  get. 

Dr.  DAVIS  wants  to  know  of  Dr.  Ilolton,  why  our  proportion 
has  been  lessened. 

Dr.  HOLTON  does  not  recollect ;  but  Massachusetts  always  in- 
sisted we  stood  too  high  \  but  the  reduction  was  on  no  fixed  prin- 
ciple. 

SAM.  THOMPSON.  What  States,  in  the  debate,  opposed  the 
rule  of  numbers  ?  Asks  Dr.  Ilolton. 

Dr.  HOLTON  does  not  recollect.  He  was  against  the  rule  of 
numbers,  because  the  Southern  States  had  more  land,  and  less 
numbers,  than  the  Eastern. 

Hon.  Mr.  DANA.  Answers  Dr.  Davis's  question,  as  it  lies  in 
his  mind.  The  reason  why  our  taxes  were  higher  during  the 
war  than  since,  was  because  we  were  free  from  the  public  enemy, 
and  money  must  be  obtained  where  it  could  be  had.  Since  the 
war,  other  States  have  been  recovering. 

Mr.  DAAVES  observes  that  Dr.  Holton  likes  this  paragraph,  if 
the  Constitution  prevails.  Mr.  Randal  need  no  longer  lament 
the  want  of  abilities  and  eloquence  on  his  side,  since  Dr.  Holton 


94  MEMOIR  OF 

has  spoken.  But  to  the  question.  Though  slaves  are  reckoned 
five  equal  to  three  now,  yet  in  a  few  years  slavery  must  be  abol- 
ished, and  in  the  mean  time  slaves  may  be  taxed  on  importation 
sixty  shillings  per  head.  Slavery  icill  not  die  of  an  apoplexy,  litt 
of  a  consumption.  As  to  direct  taxation,  Congress  now  have 
powers  to  make  requisition?,  but  not  to  enforce  them.  Considers 
the  revenue,  as  it  relates  to  borrowing  money  abroad.  Congress 
may  never  exercise  direct  taxes.  Lands  are  not  a  proper  rule 
of  census  ;  numbers  are  a  better  rule. 

Mr.  RANDAL.  Sorry  to  hear  it  said  that,  after  1808,  negroes 
would  be  free.  If  a  Southern  man  heard  it,  he  would  call  us 
pumpkins. 

Mr.  WKDGKRY  objects  to  Mr.  Dana's  description  of  the  South- 
ern States.  Their  land  is  better  than  ours. 

Mr.  DAXA  says  he  never  compared  the  value  of  the  Eastern 
or  Southern  lands;  he  compared  only  the  mode  of  cultivation. 

Mr.  WKDGKUY  says,  if  this  rule  is  for  an  equal  poll-tax,  he 
has  no  objection.  But  for  a  rule  of  apportionment  it  is  xmjust, 
Southern  land  being  better  than  ours.  In  Virginia,  one  thou- 
sand acres  has  forty-eight  polls ;  in  Massachusetts,  a  family  of  six, 
to  fifty  acres,  makes  one  hundred  and  twenty  polls  to  the  one 
thousand  acres.  In  legislation,  one  Southern  man  with  sixty 
slaves  will  have  as  much  influence  as  thirty-seven  freemen  in  the 
Eastern  States. 

Mr.  STUONG.  This  mode  of  census  is  not  new.  Our  General 
Court  have  considered  it,  and  the  General  Court  have  agreed. 
The  Southern  States  have  their  inconveniences ;  none  but  ne- 
groes can  work  there ;  the  buildings  arc  worth  nothing.  When 
the  delegates  were  apportioned,  forty  thousand  was  the  number. 
Massachusetts  had  eight,  and  a  fraction ;  Xew  Hampshire  two, 
and  a  large  fraction.  New  Hampshire  was  allowed  three,  Geor- 
gia three,  &c.  Representation  is  large  enough,  because  no  pri- 
vate local  interests  are  concerned.  Very  soon,  as  the  country 
increases,  it  will  be  larger.  He  considered  the  increasing  ex- 
pense. 

Mr.  WKDGKKY  asks  whether  the  poverty  of  our  lands  was 
considered '? 

Mr.  SKDGWICK. 

Mr.  RANDAL  talks  a  great  deal,  and  says,  as  he  sits  down,  that 
he  has  done  better  than  he  expected. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  95 

Col.  PORTEK. 

Mr.  RANDAL. 

Col.  PORTKR. 

Mr.  —  — ,  of  Kittory,  spoke  against  the  slave-trade.  We 
shall  all  suffer  for  joining  with  them,  when  they  allow  the  slave- 
trade. 

Mr.  CABOT  asks  the  gentleman  from  Sharon  whether,  in  his 
five  hundred  miles'  travel,  he  saw  five  thousand  people  who  live 
as  well  as  five  thousand  people  of  the  lowest  sort  here.  As  to 
the  slave-trade,  the  Southern  States  have  the  slave-trade,  and 
are  sovereign  States.  This  Constitution  is  the  best  way  to  get 
rid  of  it. 

Mr.  RANDAL  says  he  believes  he  has,  but  is  not  certain.  If 
they  do  not,  it  is  their  own  fault. 

Mr.  NASSOX.     Southern  States  are  not  poor. 

Gen.  THOMPSOX.     As  to  age  —  slavery  —  religion. 

Adjourned  to  3  o'clock. 

The  language  used  in  debate,  describing  the  reputation 
of  our  country  abroad,  forms  an  amusing  contrast  with  the 
way  of  speaking  on  this  topic  which  prevails  at  present. 
There  are  those  who  now  think  that  we  are  not  all  of  us 
always  perfectly  free  from  a  slight  tendency  to  vainglorious 
and  boastful  assertion  of  the  great  place  AVC  fill  in  the  eyes 
of  an  admiring  world.  In  this  Convention,  precisely  such 
words  as  those  of  Captain  Snow  were  not  often  used ;  but 
words  of  the  same  meaning  frequently  were,  and  seem  to 
have  startled  nobody.  This  Captain  Snow  was  a  delegate 
from  Harpswell  in  Cumberland  County,  Maine,  and  seems 
to  have  been  an  outspoken,  common-sense  kind  of  person. 
In  arguing  that  the  Constitution  did  not  give  Congress  too 
much  power,  he  says  : 

I,  sir,  since  the  war,  have  had  commerce  with  six  different 
nations  of  the  globe,  and  I  have  inquired  in  what  estimation 
America  is  held  ;  and,  if  I  may  believe  good,  honest,  credible 
men,  I  find  this  country  held  in  the  same  light  by  foreign  nations  as 
a  well-behaved  negro  in  a  gentleman's  family.  Suppose,  Mr.  Presi- 


96  MEMOIR  OF 

dent,  I  had  a  chance  to  make  a  good  voyage,  but  I  tie  my  cap- 
tain up  to  such  strict  orders  that  he  can  go  to  no  other  island  to 
sell  my  vessel,  although  there  is  a  certainty  of  his  doing  well. 
The  consequence  is,  he  returns,  but  makes  a  bad  voyage,  because 
he  had  not  power  enough  to  act  his  judgment  (for  honest  men  do 
right).  Thus,  sir,  Congress  cannot  save  us  from  destruction, 
because  we  tie  their  hands  and  give  them  no  power  ;  (I  think 
people  have  lost  their  privileges  by  not  improving  them ;)  and 
I  like  this  power  being  vested  in  Congress  as  well  as  any  para- 
graph in  the  Constitution,  —  for  as  the  man  is  accountable  for  his 
conduct,  I  think  there  is  no  danger.  Now,  Mr.  President,  to 
take  all  tilings  into  consideration,  something  more  must  be  said 
to  convince  me  to  the  contrary. 

My  father  was  not  a  frequent  speaker,  nor  did  he  often 
speak  at  any  length,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  reported 
Debates.  "We  extract  the  longest  speech  there  ascribed  to 
him,  in  part  because  it  is  probably  as  fair  an  exposition  as 
can  now  be  obtained  of  the  views  lie  was  accustomed  to 
express,  and  of  his  way  of  presenting  them  ;  and  in  part 
because  it  states,  in  a  very  compact  form,  those  opinions 
which  seem  to  have  prevailed  among  the  friends  of  the 
Constitution.  And  there  arc  remarks  upon  the  working  of 
this  Constitution  which  might  be  not  without  their  utility  at 
the  present  day.  The  subject  then  before  the  Convention 
was  the  eighth  section  of  the  first  article,  which  defines  the 
powers  of  Congress.  lie  said  : 

Mr.  President  :  A  great  variety  of  supposed  objections  have 
been  made  against  vesting  Congress  with  some  of  the  powers 
defined  in  the  eighth  section.  Some  of  the  objectors  have  con- 
sidered the  powers  as  unnecessary ;  and  others,  that  the  people 
have  not  the  proper  security  that  these  powers  will  not  be 
abused.  To  most  of  these  objections,  answers,  convincing,  in  my 
opinion,  to  a  candid  mind,  have  been  given.  But  as  some  of  the 
objections  have  not  been  noticed,  1  shall  beg  the  indulgence  of 
the  Convention,  while  I  verv  briefly  consider  them.  And  as  it 
is  my  intention  to  avoid  all  repetition,  my  observations  will 
necessarily  be  unconnected  and  desultory. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  97 

It  has  been  said  that  the  grant  in  this  section  includes  all  the 
possessions  of  the  people,  and  divests  them  of  everything ;  that 
such  a  grant  is  impolitic,  for,  as  the  poverty  of  an  individual 
guards  him  against  luxury  and  extravagance,  so  poverty  in  a 
ruler  is  a  fence  against  tyranny  and  oppression.  Sir,  gentlemen 
do  not  distinguish  between  the  government  of  an  hereditary 
aristocracy,  where  the  interest  of  the  governors  is  very  different 
from  that  of  the  subjects,  and  a  government  to  be  administered 
for  the  common  good  by  the  servants  of  the  people,  vested  with 
delegated  powers  by  popular  elections  at  stated  periods.  The 
Federal  Constitution  establishes  a  government  of  the  last  descrip- 
tion, and  in  this  case  the  people  divest  themselves  of  nothing. 
The  government  and  powers  which  the  Congress  can  administer, 
are  the  mere  result  of  a  compact  made  by  the  people  with  each 
other  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare.  To  talk, 
therefore,  of  keeping  Congress  poor,  if  it  means  anything,  must 
mean  a  depriving  the  people  themselves  of  their  own  resources. 
But  if  gentlemen  will  still  insist  that  these  powers  are  a  grant 
from  the  people,  and  consequently  improper,  let  it  then  be 
observed  that  it  is  now  too  late  to  impede  the  grant.  It  is 
already  completed.  The  Congress  under  the  Confederation  are 
invested  with  it  by  solemn  compact.  They  have  powers  to 
demand  what  moneys  and  forces  they  judge  necessary  for  the 
common  defence  and  general  welfare  ;  powers  as  extensive  as 
those  proposed  in  this  Constitution.  But  it  may  be  said,  as  the 
ways  and  means  are  reserved  to  the  several  States,  they  have  a 
check  upon  Congress  by  refusing  a  compliance  with  the  requisi- 
tions. Sir,  is  this  the  boasted  check,  —  a  check  that  can  never 
be  exercised  but  by  perfidy  and  a  breach  of  public  faith, — by  a 
violation  of  the  most  solemn  stipulations  ?  It  is  this  check  that 
has  embarrassed  us  at  home,  and  made  us  contemptible  abroad  ; 
and  will  any  honest  man  plume  himself  upon  a  check  which  an 
honest  man  would  blush  to  exercise  ? 

It  has  been  objected,  that  the  Constitution  provides  no  relig- 
ious test  by  oath,  and  we  may  have  in  power  unprincipled  men, 
atheists  and  pagans.  No  man  can  wish  more  ai-dently  than  I  do, 
that  all  our  public  offices  may  be  filled  by  men  who  fear  God 
and  hate  wickedness  ;  but  it  must  remain  with  the  electors  to 
give  the  government  this  security.  An  oath  will  not  do  it. 
Will  an  unprincipled  man  be  entangled  by  an  oath  ?  Will  an 
7 


98  MEMOIR  OF 

atheist  or  a  pagan  dread  the  vengeance  of  the  Christian's  God,  — 
a  being,  in  his  opinion,  the  creature  of  fancy  and  credulity  ?  No 
man  is  so  illiberal  as  to  wish  the  confining  of  places  of  honor  or 
profit  to  any  one  sect  of  Christians ;  but  what  security  is  it  to 
government,  that  every  public  officer  shall  swear  that  he  is  a 
Christian  ?  For  what  will  then  be  called  Christianity  ?  One 
man  will  declare  that  the  Christian  religion  is  only  an  illumina- 
tion of  natural  religion,  and  that  he  is  a  Christian  ;  another 
Christian  will  assert  that  all  men  must  be  happy  hereafter,  in 
spite  of  themselves ;  a  third  Christian  reverses  this  doctrine,  and 
declares  that,  let  a  man  do  all  he  can,  he  will  certainly  be  pun- 
ished in  another  world ;  and  a  fourth  will  tell  us,  that,  if  a  man 
use  any  force  for  the  common  defence,  he  violates  every  prin- 
ciple of  Christianity.  Sir,  the  only  evidence  we  can  have  of  the 
sincerity  and  excellency  of  a  man's  religion,  is  a  good  life ;  and  I 
trust  that  such  evidence  will  be  required  of  every  candidate  by 
every  elector.  That  man  who  acts  an  honest  part  to  his  neigh- 
bor, will  most  probably  conduct  honorably  towards  the  public. 

It  has  been  objected,  that  we  have  not  so  gocxl  security  against 
the  abuse  of  power  under  the  new  Constitution,  as  the  Confed- 
eration gives  us.  It  is  my  deliberate  opinion,  that  we  have  a 
better  security.  Under  the  Confederation,  the  whole  power, 
executive  and  legislative,  is  vested  in  one  body,  in  which  the 
people  have  no  representation,  and  where  the  States,  the  great 
and  the  small  States,  are  equally  represented  ;  and  all  the 
checks  the  States  have  is  a  power  to  remove  and  disgrace  an 
unfaithful  servant,  after  the  mischief  is  perpetrated.  Under  this 
Constitution,  an  equal  representation,  immediately  from  the  peo- 
ple, is  introduced,  who  by  their  negative,  and  the  exclusive  right 
of  originating  money-bills,  have  the  power  to  control  the  Senate, 
where  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  is  represented.  But  it  has 
been  objected,  that  in  the  old  Confederation  the  States  could  at 
any  time  recall  their  delegates,  and  there  was  a  rotation.  Xo 
essential  benefit  could  be  derived  to  the  people,  from  these  pro- 
visions, but  great  inconveniences  would  result  from  them.  It 
has  been  observed  by  a  gentleman  who  has  argued  against  the 
Constitution,  that  a  representative  ought  to  have  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  circumstances  of  his  constituents,  and, 
after  comparing  them  with  the  situation  of  everv  part  of  the 
Union,  so  conduct  as  to  promote  the  common  good.  The  senti- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  99 

ment  is  an  excellent  one,  and  ought  to  be  engraved  on  the 
heart  of  every  representative.  But  what  is  the  effect  of  the 
power  of  recalling  ?  Your  representative,  with  a  threatening 
revocation  over  his  head,  will  lose  all  ideas  of  the  general  good, 
and  will  dwindle  to  a  servile  agent,  attempting  to  secure  local 
and  partial  benefits  by  cabal  and  intrigue.  There  are  great  and 
insuperable  objections  to  a  rotation.  It  is  an  abridgment  of  the 
rights  of  the  people,  and  it  may  deprive  them,  at  critical  seasons, 
of  the  services  of  the  most  important  characters  in  the  nation. 
It  deprives  a  man  of  honorable  ambition,  whose  highest  glory 
is  the  applause  of  his  fellow-citizens,  of  an  efficient  motive  to 
great  and  patriotic  exertions.  The  people  individually  have  no 
method  of  testifying  their  esteem,  but  by  a  re-election ;  and  shall 
they  be  deprived  of  the  honest  satisfaction  of  wreathing  for  their 
friend  and  patriot  a  crown  of  laurel  more  durable  than  mon- 
archy can  bestow  ? 

It  has  been  objected,  that  the  Senate  are  made  too  inde- 
pendent upon  the  State  Legislatures.  No  business  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  Federal  Convention  could  have  been  more 
embarrassing,  than  the  constructing  the  Senate  ;  as  that  body 
must  conduct  our  foreign  negotiations,  and  establish  and  pre- 
serve a  system  of  national  politics,  an  uniform  adherence  to 
which  can  alone  induce  other  nations  to  negotiate  with  and  con- 
fide in  us.  It  is  certain,  the  change  of  the  men  who  compose 
it  should  not  be  too  frequent,  and  should  be  gradual.  At  the 
same  time,  suitable  checks  should  be  provided  to  prevent  an 
abuse  of  power,  and  to  continue  their  dependence  on  their  con- 
stituents. I  think  the  Convention  have  most  happily  extricated 
themselves  from  the  embarrassment.  Although  the  Senators  are 
elected  for  six  years,  yet  the  Senate,  as  a  body  composed  of  the 
same  men,  can  exist  only  for  two  years,  without  the  consent  of 
the  States.  If  the  States  think  proper,  one  third  of  that  body 
may,  at  the  end  of  every  second  year,  be  new  men.  When  the 
Senate  act  as  legislators,  they  are  controllable  at  all  times  by  the 
Representatives  ;  and  in  their  executive  capacity,  in  making 
treaties  and  conducting  the  national  negotiations,  the  consent  of 
two  thirds  is  necessary,  who  must  be  united,  to  a  man,  (which  is 
hardly  possible,)  or  the  new  men  biennially  sent  to  the  Senate, 
if  the  States  choose  it,  can  control  them ;  and  at  all  times  there 
will  also  be  one  third  of  the  Senate,  who,  at  the  expiration  of 


100  MEMOIR   OF 

two  years,  must  obtain  a  re-election,  or  return  to  the  mass  of  the 
people.  And  yet  the  change  of  men  in  the  Senate  will  be  so 
gradual  as  not  to  destroy  or  disturb  any  national  system  of 
politics. 

It  is  objected,  that  it  is  dangerous  to  allow  the  Senate  a  right 
of  proposing  alterations  or  amendments  in  money-bills  ;  that  the 
Senate  may  by  this  power  increase  the  supplies,  and  establish 
profuse  salaries  ;  that  for  these  reasons  the  Lords  in  the  British 
Parliament  have  not  this  power,  which  is  a  great  security  to  the 
liberties  of  Englishmen.  I  was  much  surprised  at  hearing  this 
objection,  and  the  grounds  upon  which  it  was  supported.  The 
reason  why  the  Lords  have  not  this  power  is  founded  on  a  prin- 
ciple in  the  English  Constitution,  that  the  Commons  alone  repre- 
sent the  whole  property  of  the  nation  ;  and  as  a  money-bill  is  a 
grant  to  the  king,  none  can  make  the  grant  but  those  who  repre- 
sent the  property  of  the  nation  ;  and  the  negative  of  the  Lords 
is  introduced  to  check  the  profusion  of  the  Commons,  and  to 
guard  their  own  property.  The  manner  of  passing  a  money-bill 
is  conclusive  evidence  of  these  principles  ;  for  after  the  assent  of 
the  Lords,  it  does  not  remain  with  the  clerk  of  the  Parliament, 
but  is  returned  to  the  Commons,  who,  by  their  Speaker,  present 
it  to  the  king,  as  the  gift  of  the  Commons.  But  every  supposed 
control  the  Senate  by  this  power  may  have  over  money-bills, 
they  can  have  without  it ;  for  by  private  communications  with 
the  Representatives,  they  may  as  well  insist  upon  an  increase  of 
the  supplies,  or  salaries,  as  by  official  communications.  But  had 
not  the  Senate  this  power,  the  Representatives  might  tack  any 
foreign  matter  to  a  money-bill,  and  compel  the  Senate  to  concur 
or  lose  the  supplies.  This  might  be  done  in  critical  seasons, 
when  the  Senate  might  give  way  to  the  encroachments  of  the 
Representative?,  rather  than  sustain  the  odium  of  embarrassing 
the  affairs  of  the  nation.  The  balance  between  the  two  branches 
of  the  Legislature  would  iu  this  way  be  endangered,  if  not 
destroyed,  and  the  Constitution  materially  injured.  This  subject 
was  fully  considered  by  the  Convention  for  forming  the  Con- 
stitution of  Massachusetts,  and  the  provision  made  by  that  Ixxly, 
after  mature  de-liberation,  is  introduced  into  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution. 

It  was  objected,  that,  by  giving  Congress  a  power  of  direct  tax- 
ation, we  give  them  power  to  destroy  the  State  governments  by 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  JQ1 

prohibiting  them  from  raising  any  moneys.  But  this  objection  is 
not  founded  in  the  Constitution.  Congress  have  only  a  concur- 
rent right  with  each  State,  in  laying  direct  taxes,  not  an  exclu- 
sive right ;  and  the  right  of  each  State  to  direct  taxation  is 
equally  extensive  and  perfect  as  the  right  of  Congress.  Any 
law,  therefore,  of  the  United  States  for  securing  to  Congress 
more  than  a  concurrent  right  with  each  State,  is  usurpation,  and 
void. 

It  has  been  objected,  that  we  have  no  bill  of  rights.  If  gen- 
tlemen who  make  this  objection  would  consider  what  are  the 
supposed  inconveniences  resulting  from  the  want  of  a  declara- 
tion of  rights,  I  think  they  would  soon  satisfy  themselves  that 
the  objection  has  no  weight.  Is  there  a  single  natural  right  we 
enjoy,  uncontrolled  by  our  own  Legislature,  that  Congress  can 
infringe  ?  Not  one.  Is  there  a  single  political  right  secured  to 
us  by  our  Constitution,  against  the  attempts  of  our  own  Legis- 
lature, which  we  arc  deprived  of  by  this  Constitution  ?  Not  one, 
that  I  can  recollect.  All  the  rights  Congress  can  control,  we 
have  surrendered  to  our  own  Legislature  ;  and  the  only  question 
is,  whether  the  people  shall  take  from  their  own  Legislatures  a 
certain  portion  of  the  several  sovereignties,  and  unite  them  in 
one  head,  for  the  more  effectual  securing  of  the  national  pros- 
perity and  happiness. 

The  honorable  gentleman  from  Boston  has  stated  at  large  most 
of  the  checks  the  people  have  against  usurpation  and  the  abuse 
of  power  under  the  proposed  Constitution  ;  but  from  the  abun- 
dance of  his  matter  he  has,  in  my  opinion,  omitted  two  or  three, 
which  I  shall  mention.  The  oath  the  several  legislative,  exec- 
utive, and  judicial  officers  of  the  several  States  take  to  support 
the  Federal  Constitution,  is  as  effectual  a  security  against  the 
usurpation  of  the  general  government,  as  it  is  against  the  en- 
croachment of  the  State  governments.  For  an  increase  of  the 
powers  by  usurpation  is  as  clearly  a  violation  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, as  a  diminution  of  these  powers  by  private,  encroach- 
ment ;  and  that  oath  obliges  the  officers  of  the  several  States  as 
vigorously  to  oppose  the  one  as  the  other.  But  there  is  another 
check,  founded  in  the  nature  of  the  Union,  superior  to  all  parch- 
ment checks  that  can  be  invented.  If  there  should  be  a  usurpa- 
tion, it  will  not  be  upon  the  farmer  and  merchant,  employed  and 
attentive  only  to  their  several  occupations ;  it  Avill  be  upon  thir- 


102  MEMOIR  OF 

tccn  Legislatures,  completely  organized,  possessed  of  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people,  and  having  the  means,  as  well  as  inclination, 
successfully  to  oppose  it.  Under  these  circumstances,  none  but 
madmen  would  attempt  a  usurpation.  But,  Sir,  the  people 
themselves  have  it  in  their  power  effectually  to  resist  usurpation, 
without  being  driven  to  an  appeal  to  arms.  An  act  of  usurpa- 
tion is  not  obligatory,  it  is  not  law  ;  and  any  man  may  be  justi- 
fied in  his  resistance.  Let  him  be  considered  as  a  criminal  by 
the  general  government,  yet  only  his  own  fellow-citizens  can 
convict  him.  They  are  his  jury  ;  and  if  they  pronounce  him 
innocent,  not  all  the  powers  of  Congress  can  hurt  him.  And 
innocent  they  certainly  will  pronounce  him,  if  the  supposed  law 
he  resisted  was  an  act  of  usurpation. 

My  friend,  Mr.  John  C.  Gray,  tells  me  that  his  father, 
the  late  Mr.  William  Gray,  AY  ho  Avas  a  member  of  the 
Convention,  used  to  speak  of  my  father  as  most  zealous  in 
his  efforts  to  saA'e  the  Constitution,  and  as  leaving  nothing 
undone  Avhich  could  help  its  adoption.  lie  often  related 
this,  among  other  anecdotes  of  the  time.  At  the  close, 
when  all  Avere  impatient  for  the  vote,  an  aged  gentleman. 
who  had  been  a  strenuous  opponent,  rose  and  asked  per- 
mission to  say  a  few  Avords.  But  it  seemed  as  if  no  one 
could  be  listened  to  any  further,  and  lie  Avas  stopped  as  by 
general  consent.  Then  my  father  rose  and  begged  for  a 
hearing  for  him,  and  prevailed  ;  and  the  gentleman  avowed 
himself  a.  friend  of  the  Constitution,  and  determined  to  give 
it  his  support.  And  his  few  but  emphatic  Avords  had  much 
influence.  ]t  AVUS  afterwards  found  that  my  father  had,  in 
a  long  conversation  of  the  preceding  evening,  finally  over- 
come his  objections  and  he  had  promised  to  announce  his 
conversion  publicly  if  an  opportunity  Avere  given  him.  1'cr- 
liaps  tin-  following,  (from  the  Centinel  of  March  Kth,  178H,) 
on  page  27.3  of  the  lute  edition  of  the  Debates,  may  refer 
to  this. 

'•On  the  day  of  the  final  decision  on  the  question  of  rati- 
fying the  Federal  Constitution  by  our  Convention,  when 
the  I  Inn.  Mr.  Turner  rose  to  make  some  observations  on 


CHIEF  JUSTICE   PARSONS.  103 

the  subject,  Dr.  S.,  a  delegate  from  a  neighboring  town,  who 
voted  in  the  minority,  and  who  expected  the  honorable  gen- 
tleman would  do  so  too,  whispered  to  a  worthy  member  in 
the  pew  with  him,  '  Now,  Sir,  you  will  hear  the  truth.' 
When  the  honorable  gentleman  began  to  mention  the  dan- 
gers of  rejecting  the  Constitution,  the  Doctor  began  to 
stare ;  but  at  the  close  of  his  speech,  when  he  expressed  his 
determination  of  voting  in  favor  of  it,  the  Doctor,  rolling  up 
his  eyes  and  raising  his  hands,  ejaculated,  '  Help,  Lord,  for 
the  righteous  man  faileth  ! ' ' 

The  anecdotes  are  indeed  innumerable  which  have  taught 
me  how  much  my  father  had  at  heart  the  constitutional  Union 
of  the  States,  and  how  earnestly  he  labored  for  this  end,  in 
private  and  in  public,  and  by  all  the  means  within  his  power. 
Yes,  he  was  a  Federalist,  if  ever  there  was  one,  and  in  the 
true  and  original  sense  of  the  word.  With  him  and  his 
co-workers,  that  phrase,  The  Federal  Union,  had  a  majestic 
meaning.  In  reviewing  the  history  of  those  days,  and  read- 
ing the  documents,  public  and  private,  in  which  that  history 
was  written,  nothing  strikes  one  more  than  the  ardent  zeal 
of  the  wise  men  of  that  day  for  a  Union  of  the  States  ;  they 
earnestly  desired  a  Union,  grounded  upon  the  best  principles, 
and  protected  by  the  best  institutions  they  could  get,  but  a 
Union  at  any  rate.  They  believed  that,  if  the  Union  were 
perpetuated,  its  own  influence  would  gradually  eliminate 
from  it  all  evil,  while  it  would  confirm  and  develop  all  the 
elements  of  good.  They  were  wiser  than  we,  or  they  were 
more  fortunate  in  seeing  near  enough  for  accurate  measure- 
ment the  tremendous  mischiefs  of  non-union.  To  some  of 
us,  these  mischiefs  seem  small  matters  ;  or  rather,  as  I 
incline  to  think,  they  who,  Xorth,  South,  East,  or  West, 
talk  with  easy-flowing  words  about  disunion,  are  able  to  do 
so  for  the  very  reason  that  in  their  inmost  hearts  they  are 
not  able  to  conceive  of  such  a  thing  as  disunion.  The  tritest 
of  all  possible  figures  is  that  which  compares  our  Union  to 
a  tree,  glorious  in  its  strength  and  beauty ;  but  it  is  trite 


!04  MEMOIR  OF 

because  it  is  so  true,  that  it  suggests  itself  to  the  imagina- 
tion at  once.  There  it  stands,  with  its  deep  roots  grasping  a 
hard  but  kindly  soil,  lifting  its  summit,  year  by  year,  nearer 
to  the  heaven  from  which  come  down  the  day  and  night, 
the  summer  and  winter,  the  sunshine  and  storm,  that  in 
their  very  alternations  nourish  its  might  and  its  magnifi- 
cence ;  towering  into  full  sight  of  worn  and  wasted  nations, 
who  look  to  it  with  hope  ;  spreading  its  great  boughs 
wide  enough  to  shelter  all  of  mankind  who  may  seek  refuge 
under  them,  and  giving  in  exuberant  plenty  food  for  all,  — 
there  it  stands  ;  but  let  the  axe,  the  worm,  or  the  tem- 
pest cast  it  down,  and  it  becomes  but  a  heap  of  broken 
branches. 

Yet  even  this  doom  may  be  impending  if  the  prosperity 
which  this  Union  gives  only  hardens  and  corrupts  the 
national  heart.  For  then  Providence  will  bring  upon  us, 
by  taking  the  foundation  of  this  prosperity  away,  the  needed 
discipline  of  sorrow  and  humiliation. 

The  danger  may  not  be  so  remote  as  is  supposed.  Hard 
words  and  hard  thoughts,  like  other  evil  things,  rapidly 
intensify  themselves  by  indulgence ;  and  threats,  which  in 
the  beginning  arc  idle,  soon  grow  to  be  fearful.  "When  so 
many  of  our  people  are  saying,  "  Do  this  or  do  that,  just  at, 
our  own  pleasure,  or  we  will  break  up  the  Union,"  and  so 
many  arc  answering  them,  "  We  will  do  only  what  we  think 
best,  and  you  may  leave  us  and  dissolve  the  Union  when 
you  please,"  can  a  sober-minded  man  think  that  there  is 
no  danger?  Can  any  man  think  of  the  thing  less  than  dis- 
union itself,  that  would  be  threatening,  or  should  be  alarm- 
ing, if  this  be  not?  And  yet  how  idle  it  is  to  utter  even 
these  feeble  words  of  caution.  When  both  parties  are  so 
far  in  the  wrong  as  to  justify  the  reproaches  of  opponents 
who  are  willing  to  .-e<:  in  their  antagonists  only  what  is 
wrong,  and  so  far  in  tin-  right  as  to  excite  the  earnest 
sympathy  of  friends  who  can  sec  in  their  own  party  only 
what  is  right,  all  human  experience  testifies  that  we  have 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  1Q5 

reached  a  point  at.  which  the  very  extremity  of  danger 
begins. 

The  great  division  between  the  lovers  of  liberty  at  any 
rate  and  of  any  kind,  and  those  who  thought  that  the  best 
and  most  permanent  liberty  could  only  be  secured  by  a 
wise  and  strong  government,  Avas  as  strongly  marked  in 
this  Convention  as  in  any  assembly  that  ever  sat ;  because 
this  Convention  adequately  represented  the  State  and  the 
country.  It  is  implied  everywhere  ;  and  it  comes  out  into 
open  expression  sometimes  in  an  amusing  way.  Thus,  Mr. 
JSasson,  from  Sanford,  in  York  County,  Maine,  says  : 

Groat  Britain,  Sir,  first  attempted  to  enslave  us,  by  declaring 
her  laws  supreme,  and  that  she  had  a  right  to  bind  us  in  all  cases 
whatever.  What,  Sir,  roused  the  Americans  to  shake  off  the 
yoke  preparing  for  them  ?  It  was  this  measure,  the  power  to  do 
which  we  are  now  about  giving  to  Congress.  And  here,  Sir,  I 
beg  the  indulgence  of  this  honorable  body,  to  permit  me  to  make 
a  short  apostrophe  to  liberty.  O  Liberty  !  thou  greatest  good, 
thou  fairest  property  !  "With  thce  I  wish  to  live,  with  thee  I 
wish  to  die  !  Pardon  me  if  I  drop  a  tear  on  the  peril  to  which 
she  is  exposed.  I  cannot,  Sir,  see  this  brightest  of  jewels  tar- 
nished, —  a  jewel  worth  ten  thousand  worlds  !  And  shall  we 
part  with  it  so  soon  ?  O  no  !  Gentlemen  ask,  Can  it  be  supposed 
that  a  Constitution,  so  pregnant  with  danger,  could  come  from 
the  hands  of  those  who  framed  it  ?  Indeed,  Sir,  I  am  suspicious 
of  my  own  judgment,  when  I  contemplate  this  idea,  when  I  see 
the  list  of  illustrious  names  annexed  to  it ;  but,  Sir,  my  duty  to 
my  constituents  obliges  me  to  oppose  the  measure  they  recom- 
mend, as  obnoxious  to  their  liberty  and  safety. 

When,  Sir,  we  dissolved  the  political  bands  which  connected 
us  with  Great  Britain,  we  were  in  a  state  of  nature.  We  then 
formed  and  adopted  the  Confederation,  which  must  be  considered 
as  a  sacred  instrument ;  this  confederates  us  under  one  head,  as 
sovereign  and  independent  States.  Now,  Sir,  if  we  give  Con- 
gress power  to  dissolve  that  Confederation,  to  what  can  we 
trust  ?  If  a  nation  consent  thus  to  treat  their  most  solemn  com- 
pacts, who  will  ever  trust  them  ?  Let  us,  Sir,  begin  with  this 
Constitution,  and  see  what  it  is.  And  first,  "  We,  the  people  of 


106  MEMOIR   OF 

the  United  States,  do,"  &c.  If  this,  Sir,  does  not  go  to  an  anni- 
hilation of  the  State  governments,  and  to  a  perfect  consolidation 
of  the  -whole  Union,  I  do  not  know  what  does. 

And  Judge  Sumner,  from  Roxbury,  in  reply,  adverting 
to  the  pathetic  apostrophe  of  Mr.  Nasson,  said : 

I  can  with  as  much  sincerity  apostrophize  :  O  Government ! 
thou  greatest  good  !  thou  best  of  blessings  !  With  thee  I  wish  to 
live ;  with  thee  I  wish  to  die  !  Thou  art  as  necessary  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  political  body,  as  meat  and  bread  are  to  the  natural 
bodv.  The  learned  Judge  then  turned  his  attention  to  the  propo- 
sition submitted  by  the  President,  and  said  he  sincerely  hoped 
that  it  would  meet  the  approbation  of  the  Convention,  as  it 
appeared  to  him  a  remedy  for  all  the  difficulties  which  gentlemen 
in  the  course  of  the  debates  had  mentioned. 

This  was  precisely  the  question  of  that  day,  and  of  this 
day,  as  it  will  be  of  all  coming  days.  I  need  not  repeat,  that 
my  father  stood  firmly  and  consistently,  in  every  word  and 
act  of  his  life,  among  them  who  desired  a  well  and  wisely 
balanced  government,  which  should  be  strong  enough  to 
guard  liberty  from  license  and  anarchy  on  the  one  hand, 
and  from  the  iron  hand  of  oppression  on  the  other.  His 
natural  proclivity  was  certainly  to  the  extreme  of  conserva- 
tism ;  and  this  he  freely  indulged  in  conversation,  and  per- 
haps in  his  common  opinions  ;  but  when  called  upon  to 
express  or  form  a  solemn  determination,  he  seems  to  me  to 
have  labored,  and  not  unsuccessfully,  to  find  and  stand  upon 
the  just  medium. 

The  two  parties  were  profoundly  in  earnest;  and  both 
rested,  as  they  still  do,  on  most  real  and  substantial  grounds. 
Each  tended  to  an  extreme,  from  which  it  was  protected 
and  saved  by  the  influence!  of  the  other.  And  it  was  the 
misfortune  of  both,  that  each  believed  the  other  dishonest, 
and  wilfully  regardless  of  the  true  interests  of  the  country. 
When  Mr.  Ames  poured  out  his  passionate  and  burning 
diatribes  against  revolutionary  France,  painting  it  —  as  he 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  107 

believed  it  to  be,  and  on  too  good  evidence  —  as  a  hell 
on  earth,  the  Democrats  of  that  day  denounced  his  exe- 
crable ingratitude  towards  the  country  which  had  saved  us 
from  our  tyrant,  and  verily  believed  he  must  desire  a  mon- 
archy like  that  of  England,  where  he  might  win  nobility  for 
himself.  The  wildest  of  his  opponents  uttered  that  outcry 
about  "  British  gold,"  the  inexpressible  folly  of  which  has 
not  yet  caused  its  entire  suppression ;  and  the  milder 
among  them  thought  that  he  and  the  whole  party,  with 
Washington  at  their  head,  in  their  fear  of  the  British  navy, 
and  their  desire  of  preserving  from  attack  the  infant  pros- 
perity of  the  country,  truckled  to  the  power  which  they  had 
defeated,  and  ignominiously  bought  their  peace  by  Jay's 
Treaty. 

With  Ames,  Cabot,  Strong,  and  others  of  that  stamp,  my 
father  stood ;  and  so  convinced  were  they  all,  that  in  the 
example  of  England  alone  they  could  find  anything  in  the 
world  approaching  the  guarded  liberty  they  loved,  and  in 
friendship  with  England  the  best  protection  against  perils 
which  then  seemed  to  threaten  us  with  ruin,  —  they  could  see 
in  Jefferson  and  others,  who  loved  a  French  alliance  better, 
only  an  ill-concealed  desire  for  the  results  of  French  repub- 
licanism, • — for  its  rivers  of  blood,  its  defiance  of  God  and 
man,  its  renunciation  of  all  religion,  and  its  destruction  of 
all  government. 

In  alluding  to  these  opinions,  I  speak  rather  of  a  later 
phase  of  this  controversy ;  of  one  not  fully  developed  at  the 
time  of  the  Convention,  but  indicated  then,  and  growing  up 
into  its  full  force  in  the  years  that  immediately  followed. 
Through  all  these  years,  my  father  did  his  share,  no  doubt, 
in  abusing  those  whom  he  looked  upon  only  as  license-loving 
"  Jacobins  "  ;  and  he  certainly  had  his  full  share  of  abuse 
as  "  an  English  aristocrat,"  whose  pockets  were  full  of  Eng- 
lish gold,  and  who  would  gladly  have  enslaved  the  people ! 

Quiet  and  temperate  persons  are  sometimes  shocked,  and 
have  reason  to  be,  at  the  violence  of  party  spirit  in  these 


108  MEMOIR  OF 

days.  But  if  we  compare  the  present  with  the  past,  we 
may  observe  a  great  improvement,  or  certainly  a  great 
change,  in  this  respect.  It'  the  pro-slavery  and  anti-slavery 
men,  who  are  now  the  most  fervent  antagonists,  sometimes 
exhibit  anger  and  ferocity  in  their  mutual  objurgations,  it  is 
not  true,  as  a  general  rule,  that  he  who  belongs  to  one  of 
these  parties  is  thereby  entirely  excluded  from  all  social 
fellowship  with  members  of  the  other  party.  They  are  not 
very  forbearing  or  conciliatory  towards  each  other,  but  they 
do  sometimes  meet  within  the  same  Avails. 

In  my  childhood,  "  Federalists "  and  "Jacobins"  (as  the 
Federalists  called  their  opponents,  intending  to  identify 
them  with  the  revolutionary  Jacobin  Club  of  Paris)  very 
seldom,  I  believe,  met  in  society.  I  never  saw  one,  to  know 
him,  until  I  was  ten  years  old.  Then,  in  1807,  a  Mr.  Cross, 
of  Portland  (who  was  called  by  us  Uncle  Cross,  he  having 
married  my  mother's  sister),  came  to  l^oston  on  business ; 
and  my  father,  yielding  I  think  to  my  mother's  solicitations, 
invited  him  to  dine.  The  fact  was  soon  known  in  the  fam- 
ily, and  excited  us  all  greatly  ;  for  Uncle  Cross  was  a  Jaco- 
bin, and  that  was  the  reason  we  had  never  seen  him  before. 
I  waited  for  his  coining  with  great  interest.  What  I  ex- 
pected to  see  I  do  not  remember  ;  but  it  was  something  very 
uncommon ;  and  very  carefully  I  watched  him.  While  the 
dinner  was  going  on  pleasantly,  my  father  said,  "  Mr.  Cross, 
take  a  glass  of  wine  with  me,"  and  held  the  decanter  to 
him;  and  in  irrepressible  surprise  I  uttered  audibly,  "  Why, 
he  is  not  a  Jacobin,  after  all ! "  The  remark  caused  some 
consternation.  Uncle  Cross,  who  was  a  very  courteous  gen- 
tleman, recovered  at  once  from  his  share  of  it,  and  said, 
"No,  my  young  friend,  I  am  not  a  Jacobin;  at  least,  I  hope 
not.  Did  you  think  1  was?"  "  Yes,  sir,"  said  I,  "  I  have 
always  heard  so;  but  I  see  you  are  not,  for  I  have  heard 
father  say,  again  and  again,  that  nothing  on  earth  would 
make  him  drink  wine  with  a  Jacobin."  This  explana- 
tion did  not  mend  matters,  and  I  was  sent  from  the  table; 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  109 

and  never  again  did  I  see  Uncle  Cross,  although  he  lived 
many  years  after  that  first  introduction. 

My  father-in-law,  Nathaniel  Chandler,  was  in  the  Legis- 
lature, about  the  year  1805,  from  Petersham,  in  Worcester 
County.  lie  told  me  that  a  meeting  of  leading  Federal- 
ists of  the  Legislature  was  held  at  the  house  of  my  father, 
who  was  not  himself  a  member,  to  determine  what  should 
be  done  in  a  certain  political  crisis.  The  "  Jacobins " 
seemed  disposed  to  be  quiet  and  conciliatory ;  and  the  ques- 
tion was,  should  the  Federalists  follow  their  example. 
Many  thought  they  should ;  but  my  father  scouted  the  idea. 
"  Be  sure,"  said  he,  "  that,  if  you  do  not  hear  them  at  this 
moment,  they  have  but  retreated  to  their  dens,  there  to  con- 
coct their  venom  into  fiercer  and  more  fatal  virulence  ;  and 
at  the  first  moment  they  can  catch  you  unawares,  they  will 
issue  forth  and  strike."  It  seems  to  me  that  my  father  was 
a  very  kindly  and  good-natured  sort  of  person,  generally ; 
but  as  a  politician,  I  am  afraid  he  was  what  Dr.  Johnson 
delighted  in,  "  a  good  hater."  He  certainly  believed  that  in 
the  "Jacobinism"  of  his  day  he  saw  principles  and  influ- 
ences which,  if  not  checked  and  suppressed,  would  end  in 
the  destruction  of  all  liberty. 

That  was  a  day  of  violent  language,  and,  I  suppose,  of 
violent  feeling ;  but,  with  it  all,  there  was  some  wisdom  left. 
Then,  as  always,  extremes  produced  extremes ;  and,  in  the 
excitement  and  exasperation  of  political  antagonism,  words 
were  sometimes  used  which  were  more  extreme  than  the 
speaker's  thought.  At  a  dinner  party  in  New  York,  soon 
after  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  the  conversa- 
tion turned  upon  the  prospects  of  the  country.  One  gentle- 
man, whose  name  I  never  heard,  was  an  earnest  "  friend  of 
the  people,"  and  descanted  with  much  enthusiasm  upon  the 
glorious  future  then  opening  upon  this  new-born  nation,  and 
predicted  the  perpetuity  of  our  institutions,  from  the  pimty 
and  intelligence  of  the  people,  their  freedom  from  interest 
or  prejudice,  their  enlightened  love  of  liberty,  &c.,  &c. 


HO  MEMOIR  OF 

Alexander  Hamilton  was  among  the  guests  ;  and,  his  patience 
being  somewhat  exhausted,  he  replied  with  much  emphasis, 
striking  his  hand  upon  the  table,  "  Your  people,  sir,  —  your 
people  is  a  great  beast !  "  I  have  this  anecdote  from  a 
friend,  to  whom  it  Avas  related  by  one  who  was  a  guest  at 
the  table.  After-dinner  utterances  have  little  value,  unless, 
perhaps,  their  very  levity  makes  them  good  indicators  of 
the  wind.  "\Vc  do  not  know  the  qualifying  words  which  may 
have  followed,  or  the  tone  and  manner  of  that  which  was, 
perhaps,  in  part  or  in  the  whole,  a  jest.  And  it  is  fair  to 
suppose  that  the  remark,  if  it  had  any  serious  meaning, 
meant  only  that  the  people  might  be  corrupted  by  prosper- 
ity and  adulation,  until  they  Avould  lose  all  wisdom,  and  all 
principles  of  right,  and  all  the  guidance  of  reason.  But 
after  every  possible  allowance  is  made,  the  remark  Avas  a 
mistake ;  for  the  people  is  not  a  beast,  but  a  MAX.  It  is  no 
uncommon  thing  to  hear  it  said  of  an  individual,  that  he  is 
a  beast,  or  no  better  than  a  beast ;  and  certainly  nothing 
Avill  so  confirm  in  him  the  degrading  propensities  which 
brutalize  him,  as  treating  him  like  a  beast.  But,  after  all, 
he  is  a  great  deal  more  than  a  beast,  even  if  a  great  deal 
worse ;  for  he  cannot  cast  off  if  he  will  the  infinite  possi- 
bilities and  equal  responsibilities  which  belong  to  him  as  a 
man. 

So  of  the  people.  That  foolish  and  wicked  idolatry 
which  panders  to  their  self-conceit  and  nourishes  that  blind- 
ing vice,  does  all  that  can  be  done  to  degrade  them,  and 
make  the  pathway  to  a  higher  and  better  civilization  long 
and  dillicult.  But  over  us  all  there  is  Providence;  and 
Ave  may  read  His  footsteps  in  the  past,  if  AVC  Avould  know 
the  direction  towards  which  they  point.  History,  which  is 
but  the  biography  of  man.  has  much  to  say  on  this  point; 
or,  rather,  when  her  instruction  yields  its  utmost  significance, 
says  nothing  else.  AVc  cannot  obscrA'e  how  freedom  has 
grown,  from  the  despotism  Avhicli  has  ever  marked  the  Ori- 
ental World,  through  the  lighter  bondage  of  Greece,  and 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  m 

the  great  municipal  freedom  which  characterized  the  Roman 
Empire  even  under  its  despots,  and  the  recognition  of  every 
man  in  his  place  and  rights  by  the  theory  of  the  feudal  sys- 
tem, —  and  so  come  to  our  own  times,  and  see  how  woman, 
by  a  parallel  progress,  has  advanced  from  the  harem  of  the 
East  to  that  position  in  our  own  day  and  land  Avhich  gives 
her  unprecedented  power  to  assert  and  exercise  her  "  wo- 
man's right "  to  make  home  happy,  and  co-operate  fully  with 
man  in  all  that  belongs  to  its  peace,  its  hopes,  and  its  unlim- 
ited influence  for  good,  —  we  cannot  observe  these  things, 
and  doubt  that  it  is  the  destiny  of  man  to  advance  far- 
ther, and  indefinitely  farther.  There  must  be  with  the 
whole,  as  with  all  masses  and  all  individuals,  discipline  and 
whatever  belongs  to  discipline.  Therefore  there  must  be 
lessons  which  will  seem  to  be  punishments ;  and  the  cor- 
rection of  grievous  errors,  even  by  grievous  consequences; 
and  fluctuations  which  make  hope,  for  a  time,  difficult ;  arid 
a  freedom  for  self-culture  which  will  sometimes  be  abused, 
and  so  lead  to  fearful  mischiefs.  But  through  it  all  there 
will  be  progress,  because  over  it  all  there  will  be  Provi- 
dence ;  and  how  can  this  be  denied  by  him  who  believes  in 
the  Infinite  above  us  and  beyond  us. 

There  was  a  phrase  in  frequent  use  in  my  younger  days, 
and  not  forgotten  now,  "  Vox  populi,  vox  Dei"  with  which 
my  father  would  have  little  patience.  No  one  admitted 
more  entirely  that,  in  this  country,  and  in  each  State,  the 
people  are  sovereign,  and  have  all  the  rights  and  incidents 
of  sovereignty  which  in  monarchical  governments  are  vested 
in  the  king.  All  power,  office,  and  authority  come  from 
them.  Nor  is  the  maxim  of  law,  that  "  the  king  can  do  no 
wrong,"  inapplicable  to  the  people  in  its  just  sense.  AH 
that  this  ever  meant  in  law  Avas,  that  there  can  be  no  higher 
power  than  the  highest,  and  if  there  were  a  tribunal  au- 
thorized to  declare  the  sovereign  wrong  and  pronounce  sen- 
tence upon  him,  that  tribunal,  and  not  he,  would  be  sover- 
eign. So  the  assertion  that  the  Pope  is  infallible  was  and 


112  MEMOIR  OF 

is  perfectly  true  in  a  similar  sense,  in  the  Roman  Church, 
because  he  is  the  head  of  that  Church,  and  there  is  no  hie- 
rarchical authority  higher  than  he  (excepting,  perhaps,  an 
oecumenical  council),  who  can  declare  him  to  be  mistaken. 
The  error  is  in  supposing  that  these  formulas  mean  that  a 
king,  personally,  can  do  no  wrong,  or  that  a  pope,  person- 
ally, can  make  no  mistake.  Probably  the  great  body  of  the 
subjects  of  a  king  understand  the  rule  in  this  erroneous 
sense,  and  acknowledge  the  royal  impeccability,  or  reject  it, 
according  to  the  strength  of  their  loyalty ;  and  so,  undoubt- 
edly, the  great  mass  of  Papists  suppose  that  their  Church 
recognizes  its  head  as  personally  infallible.  And  precisely 
the  same  error  is  growing  among  us,  and  exists  wherever 
persons  believe  that  in  the  whole  mass  of  the  people  correc- 
tive influences  are  powerful  to  compensate  the  intellectual  or 
moral  obliquities  of  individuals,  and  therefore  that  the  decis- 
ion of  the  mass  is  always  right.  It  is  undoubtedly  an  effect 
of  this  compensation,  that  the  folly  of  the  most  foolish  is  cor- 
rected by  the  wisdom  of  those  who  are  wiser;  but  it  is  just 
as  certain,  that  their  wisdom  is  also  counteracted  by  the  folly 
of  their  neighbors ;  because  the  common  resultant  of  the 
whole  must  represent  and  exhibit  the  average  good  sense  or 
silliness,  purity  or  corruption,  of  all  the  individuals.  In  the 
illusion  that  the  whole  is  or  can  be  better  than  all  its  parts 
would  m;ike  it,  may  perhaps  be  found  our  greatest  danger. 
For  this  illusion  must  grow  in  strength  and  in  mischief 
as  long  as  they  who  have  most  to  say  to  the  people  rest 
their  claims  to  distinction  or  to  subsistence  upon  a  favor 
which  they  win  by  this  adulation.  And  it  is  an  illusion  that 
tends  strongly  to  make  the  people  less  able  to  sec,  or  less 
disposed  to  obey,  the  truth,  and  less  willing  to  believe  their 
own  need  of  improvement,  because  it  hides  from  them  the 
fact  that  a  mass  cannot  be  free  from  evil  and  error,  while 
every  individual  of  it  has  his  own  weakness  and  wicked- 
ness, and  these  are  strengthened  by  mutual  support  and 
encouragement.  Let  this  illusion,  therefore,  go  much  far- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  113 

ther,  and  it  must  be  permitted  to  cure  itself  in  the  only  way 
in  which  it  can  be  cured,  and  that  is  by  its  effects  ;  and 
then  the  voice  of  the  people  will  be  seen  and  felt  to  be  the 
voice  of  God,  only  as  the  tempest  and  the  earthquake  are 
his  voice,  and  only  as  that  is  a  voice  of  terror  and  destruc- 
tion. 

We  are  the  only  great  nation  in  the  world  without  a  per- 
sonal sovereign.  We  are  the  only  great  nation  that  possesses 
a  constitution.  The  absolute  dependence  of  these  two  facts 
upon  each  other  should  not  be  forgotten.  Whatever  may  be 
thought  of  the  possible  utility  of  a  constitution  where  there 
is  a  king,  certain  it  is  that  the  extremest  need  of  one  exists 
there  where  there  is  no  king.  For  we  who  have  no  king, 
if  we  have  no  constitution,  have  nothing  to  reverence  and 
obey ;  nothing  to  protect  us  from  ourselves,  from  our  own 
vagaries,  our  own  follies,  our  own  corruptions.  Nor  can  a 
constitution,  which  is  but  supreme  law,  supply  this  want  for 
a  people  that  is  not  trained  to  love,  respect,  and  obey  the 
law.  He  that  reverences  and  obeys  nothing  else,  will  be 
sure  to  obey  himself,  and  the  worst  parts  of  himself,  and 
will  be  the  slave  of  a  cruel  master,  who  is  made  more  cruel, 
more  mad,  and  more  destructive,  by  the  unchecked  exercise 
of  his  dominion  ;  and  this  is  as  true  of  a  nation  as  of  a 
man.  There  are,  however,  principles  of  which  the  strong 
foundations  were  laid  in  the  inmost  depths  of  human  nature, 
by  Him  who  made  man  with  the  intent  that  he  should  asso- 
ciate with  his  brethren  for  his  own  happiness  and  theirs.  Of 
these  principles,  those  applicable  to  civil  polity  may,  with 
their  immediate  and  practical  derivations,  be  constructed  into 
a  constitution,  which  is  thereafter  to  bend,  like  the  sky,  over 
all,  embracing  all,  and  yet  lifted  far  above  the  reach  of  any ; 
there  to  rest,  safe  and  giving  safety ;  and  unchangeable, 
until  an  unquestionable  necessity  teaches  them  whom  it  pro- 
tects, how  to  make  it  wiser,  stronger,  and  more  protective. 
This  is  the  theory.  The  practice  is  not  quite  so ;  and  yet 
there  is  enough  of  it  among  us  to  justify  the  remark  of  a 
8 


114  MEMOIR  OF 

wise  foreigner,  that,  with  all  our  laxity  and  license,  we  are 
safe,  because  we  alone  among  the  nations  do  not  look  upon 
the  law  as  our  enemy.  So  may  it  be ;  for  when  it  ceases  so 
to  be,  we  shall  have  passed  across  the  line  which  separates 
political  safety  from  political  ruin.* 

Let  me  say  a  word  of  the  first  of  those  whom  I  just  now 
enumerated  as  the  men  with  whom  my  father  stood  and 
labored.  I  never  knew  Fisher  Ames  personally.  Born  in 
1758,  he  lived  until  1808;  but  during  his  later  years  he 
was  much  confined  to  his  home  in  Dedham,  and  I  think, 
but  am  not  sure,  that  I  never  saw  him.  Of  nothing,  how- 
ever, am  I  more  certain,  than  of  the  admiration  and  affection 
which  my  father  felt  for  him,  and  often  and  warmly  ex- 
pressed. With  what  regard  and  confidence  they  were  re- 
turned may  appear,  in  some  slight  degree,  from  the  letters  of 
Mr.  Ames  which  I  insert  in  the  Appendix.  A  slight  inci- 
dent occurred  when  I  must  have  been  a  mere  child ;  and  why 
I  remember  it  so  perfectly  I  do  not  know.  In  my  father's 
office  a  gentleman  was  urging  him  to  do  something,  I  forget 
what,  but  the  answer  I  have  never  forgotten.  "No,  no. 
Go  to  Ames,  and  tell  him  to  take  hold  at  once,  and  he  will ; 
and  give  him  a  column  of  a  newspaper,  and  he  will  do  more 
than  you  and  I  and  all  of  us  can  do  by  talking  and  writing 
for  a  month."  I  think  I  must  have  been  struck  with  my 
father's  earnestness,  and  that  Mr.  Ames's  death,  following 
soon  after,  impressed  it  upon  my  memory.  I  have  said  that 


*  It  is,  at  the  worst,  but  the  waste  of  a  small  part  of  this  page,  if  I 
quote  here,  from  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  a  passage  in  which  a 
great  truth  is  clothed  with  adequate  splendor  of  language.  If  any  of 
my  readers  ask  why  I  copy  here  what  is  so  well  known,  I  can  only  say, 
that  the  more  it  is  known,  the  better,  and  none  can  know  it  too  well. 

"  Of  Law  no  less  can  be  said,  than  that  her  scat  is  the  bosom  of 
God,  her  voice  the  harmony  of  the  world.  All  things  in  heaven  and 
earth  do  her  homage  ;  the  very  least  us  feeling  her  care,  the  greatest  as 
not  exempt  from  her  power.  Roth  angels  and  men,  and  all  creatures 
of  what  condition  soever,  though  each  in  different  sort  and  manner,  yet 
all  with  uniform  consent,  admiring  her  as  the  mother  of  their  peace." 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  H5 

I  did  not  know  him  personally ;  but  I  heard  so  much  of  him 
in  the  years  immediately  following  his  death,  that  there  is  no 
one  of  whose  position  and  leading  characteristics  I  have  a 
more  distinct  impression. 

No  man  in  this  community  ever  won  so  much  public  ad- 
miration, and,  at  the  same  time,  the  warm  affection  of  so 
wide  a  circle  of  friends.  His  fame  is  now  that  of  an  elo- 
quent man.  It  is  deserved ;  for  he  was,  perhaps,  our  most 
eloquent  man.  And  his  eloquence  was  also  of  a  very  noble 
character.  It  was  not  a  gift,  per  se,  consisting  mainly  of 
extraordinary  power  of  speech ;  for  it  was  formed  by  an 
harmonious  union  of  the  best  and  highest  moral  and  intel- 
lectual qualities.  As  the  very  first  among  them,  I  name  his 
perfect  sincerity.  It  is  an  old  rule,  first  uttered  by  a  mas- 
ter of  eloquence,  If  you  wish  to  make  others  believe,  you 
must  yourself  believe.  His  enthusiastic  acceptance,  with- 
out stay  or  doubt  or  hesitancy,  of  whatever  he  thought  to 
be  the  truth,  and  his  unreserved  devotion  to  it,  awoke  in 
others  a  sympathetic  faith.  He  was  a  strong  man,  and  yet 
a  child ;  and  his  strength  was  not  weakened,  but  invigorated, 
by  the  tenderness,  the  playfulness,  the  simplicity,  and  the 
freshness,  which  seldom  survive  those  early  years  which 
they  make  so  attractive. 

His  logic  was  neither  mechanical  nor  artistic.  I  would 
call  it  natural ;  for  it  seems  to  me  precisely  that.  His  own 
thoughts  flowed  on  with  an  order  so  just,  and  led  so  directly 
to  just  conclusions,  that  other  minds,  if  he  could  once  win 
them  to  take  one  step  with  him,  found  no  stopping-place 
until  he  and  they  had  reached  their  journey's  end ;  while 
his  imagination  presented  everything  to  him  so  clearly, 
and  so  well  arranged  and  defined,  that  he  seemed  always  to 
be  describing  only  what  he  looked  upon.  When  we  read, 
that  after  he  had  closed  his  great  speech,  in  1796,  on  Jay's 
Treaty,  his  opponents  begged  delay,  that  members  might 
have  an  opportunity  to  recover  their  self-possession,  we  may 
wonder  at  this  tribute  to  his  power.  But  when  we  read 


11G  MEMOIR  OF 

the  speech  itself,  we  ask,  What  could  delay  do  for  them  ? 
what  answer  to  his  arguments  could  time  suggest?  what 
doubt  could  it  throw  upon  his  conclusions  ? 

To  return  to  my  father :  I  think  that,  from  the  time  of 
the  Convention  in  1788,  he  went  very  seldom  into  public 
life.  And  if  he  exerted  any  influence  in  politics,  it  was 
only  by  the  depth  of  his  convictions,  by  the  strength  of  his 
reasons  for  them,  and  by  the  freedom  and  force  of  his  ex- 
pression of  them. 

He  never  shunned  the  subject  of  politics,  whether  in  the 
shape  of  political  principles,  or  measures,  or  men,  or  proba- 
bilities. Many  and  many  were  the  animated  conversations 
to  which  I  listened,  and  heartily  do  I  wish  I  could  remem- 
ber them  more  perfectly.  The  words  or  phrases,  and  nearly 
all  of  what  may  be  called  the  particulars,  have  escaped  me  ; 
but  I  think  I  cannot  be  mistaken  in  the  substance. 

If  my  readers  remember  that  my  only  purpose  in  Avrit- 
ing  this  memoir  is  to  present  my  father  as  he  was,  they 
will  excuse,  or  at  least  will  understand,  my  strong  desire  to 
exhibit  accurately  his  views  and  feelings  in  respect  to  the 
politics  of  the  country.  There  is,  however,  this  difficulty  : 
while  entirely  certain  of  these  in  general,  I  am  wholly  una- 
ble to  give  them,  either  on  authority  or  on  definite  recollec- 
tion, in  particular.  After  every  effort  which  I  can  make,  to 
insure  correctness,  I  venture  to  state  what  I  believe  to  have 
been  his  views.  His  boldness,  and  his  frequent  use  of  un- 
qualified language,  led  to  the  reproach  in  his  own  days  (and 
it  still  survives),  that  he  had  no  faith  in  the  people,  and  no 
hope  in  the  ultimate  success  of  a  democracy.  This  certainly 
was  not  true.  Whatever  were  his  fears,  and  whatever  his 
disgust  at  the  corruption  and  delusion  which  he  saw  or  an- 
ticipated, there  mingled  with  these  a  decided  belief  that 
curative,  if  not  preventive  elements,  would  be  found  in  the 
very  nature  of  democratic,  institutions. 

I   should  say,  then,  that  his   principles  and   his  opinions 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  jjy 

would  load  to  the  belief  that  there  would  be  regular  stages  in 
the  decline  and  decay  of  our  actual  system  of  government, 
and  then  in  its  restoration.  At  the  beginning,  the  chief  men 
of  the  country  were  placed,  by  the  choice  of  the  people,  in 
the  highest  offices,  and  took  them  as  a  matter  of  course.  He 
lived  to  see  the  day  when  such  men  were  obliged  to  contend 
for  prominence,  and  put  forth  their  claims  ;  and  to  regard 
this  as  one  sign  that  the  people  of  this  country  had  already 
begun  to  live  upon  the  capital,  both  of  political  wisdom  and 
political  integrity,  inherited  from  their  fathers.  In  the  next 
stage  it  would  be  necessary  for  great  men  who  would  have 
power,  to  descend  to  the  same  means  of  getting  it  which 
little  men  employed.  Then  would  come  a  new  period.  On 
the  one  hand,  strong  and  high  men  would  be  driven  by  dis- 
gust from  the  field  of  politics  ;  and  on  the  other,  the  people 
would  become  unwilling  to  look  up  to  their  own  creatures. 
Mediocrity  would  gain  possession  of  nearly  all  power,  by 
the  free  use  of  all  the  means  of  management. 

The  corruption  of  the  constituent  by  the  representative 
may  then  ascend,  until  it  becomes  the  corruption  of  the 
representative  by  the  constituent ;  or  by  any  who,  at  the 
doors  of  our  legislative  bodies,  are  begging  for  legislation 
that  shall  put  money  in  their  pockets.  Plain  bribery  may 
ask,  not  always  in  whispers,  for  entrance  to  the  hulls,  even 
the  highest,  from  which  our  laws  come  forth ;  and  it  may 
find  not  every  heart  inaccessible,  and  not  every  vote  un- 
purchasable.  They  whose  profession  and  business  it  is  to 
live  by  office,  may  seek  to  mend  their  living  by  any  means 
within  their  reach,  with  no  check  or  limitation  but  those 
which  are  imposed  by  the  necessity  of  caution  in  gathering 
such  perilous  gains.  Vice  may,  thei-efore,  continue  to  pay 
to  Virtue  the  tribute  of  hypocrisy.  But  there  may  be 
explosions,  from  excess  or  incaution,  and  the  secrets  of  the 
abyss  may  be,  for  a  moment,  revealed,  by  an  exposure 
which  will  do  as  much  harm  as  good ;  for  while  the  public 
turn  away  from  it  with  a  laugh  of  scorn,  it  will  stimulate 


118  MEMOIR   OF 

the  greed  of  those  who  are  longing  to  earn  the  same  money, 
in  the  same,  or  in  any  way. 

There  may  be  some  danger,  when  time  shall  confirm  and 
consolidate  these  elements  of  evil,  that  the  institutions  and 
authorities  of  the  country  will,  for  all  practical  purposes, 
fall  into  the  hands  of  an  oligarchy  as  absolute  as  was  that 
of  the  old  republic  of  Venice  ;  but  it  will  be  an  oligarchy 
resting  only  on  intrigue  ;  or  the  worst  form  of  government, 
standing  on  the  basest  foundation.  It  will  be  composed  of 
professional  politicians.  This  oligarchy,  like  that  of  Venice, 
will  be  somewhat  hidden,  but  none  the  less  powerful ;  and 
the  chief  magistrate  himself,  be  he  Doge  or  President,  will 
be  but  its  puppet.  Like  that,  too,  it  will  have  the  power  of 
self-perpetuation,  by  absorbing  into  its  ranks  those  who  are 
fittest  for  its  work.  As  a  man  shows  himself  skilful  in 
intrigue  and  in  the  power  of  combination,  and  possessed  of 
the  proper  audacity,  and  disposed  to  adopt  office-seeking  as 
a  trade,  he  will  be  silently  admitted  into  this  oligarchy. 
There  he  will  take  rank  according  to  his  power  and  success 
in  wielding  the  resources  of  corruption.  If  the  country 
prospers  arid  offers  bread  to  honest  industry,  only  the  baser 
sort  of  people  will  accept  subsistence  from  office ;  and 
then  nearly  all  political  and  official  power  will  be  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  stand  low  in  intellectual  rank,  with  little 
pretence  to  any  higher  talent,  than  that  of  craft,  and  still 
lower  in  moral  character.  There  will  always  be  excep- 
tions ;  for  we  cannot  imagine  a  period  when  no  man  that  is 
honest,  and  no  man  that  is  able,  can  hold  high  office  in  this 
country.  Uut  they  will  be  only  exceptions;  and  after  a 
while  they  will  be  run.-. 

There  is  but  out;  more  downward  possibility.  Govern- 
ment and  legislation  cannot  long  go  on  under  the  prevailing 
control  of  self-seeking,  of  political  corruption,  and  of  mere 
cunning,  without  great  practical  mistakes,  which  will  press 
heavily  on  the  general  prosperity.  Then,  it  may  be  that 
the  vast  majority  on  ic/tu/a  power  is  exercised  will  no 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  HQ 

longer  submit  to  the  few  who  use  it  to  their  detriment. 
And  then  will  come  the  great  question,  —  and  it  will  be 
indeed  the  question  of  life  or  death.  I  think  my  father 
sometimes  feared  that  the  general  feeling  would  be,  "  We 
have  tried  liberty,  and  it  means  only  misrule,  and  that 
means  common  disaster  and  distress."  And  the  people  will 
then  consent,  —  at  least  by  ineffectual  resistance,  —  when  a 
strong  man  comes  to  shatter  the  undermined  fabric  of  con- 
stitutional liberty. 

Hitherto,  through  all  ages,  the  unvarying  series  has 
been  regularly  repeated,  —  freedom,  corruption,  anarchy, 
and  despotism.  If  this  fatal  order  is  to  be  broken,  —  if 
a  new  result  is  to  come  in  to  vary  the  tale  of  history,  it 
must  be  because  new  causes,  of  sufficient  power,  begin  to 
operate.  And  this  is  so. 

Generally  my  father,  and  they  with  whom  he  best  agreed, 
•were,  I  think,  hopeful  on  this  ground.  Admitting  that  the 
downward  path,  to  very  near  the  bottom,  would  be  by  steps 
more  or  less  similar  to  those  above  described,  they  still  re- 
lied, with  much  hope,  if  not  entire  confidence,  upon  the  fact 
that  every  man  of  the  people  of  this  country  is  in  perfect 
liberty  to  say  or  to  do  what  he  thinks  his  interest  or  his 
duty  requires,  to  preserve  or  improve  the  political  institu- 
tions of  the  country,  only  keeping  within  the  broad  limits 
which  exclude  treason  and  rebellion.  This  is  a  new  thing 
on  the  earth  ;  a  new  thing  in  history ;  and  it  will  be  a 
new  thing  in  its  influence  and  effect.  The  decline  in  the 
political  condition  of  the  country  will  be  arrested  by  it, 
when  personal  interest  and  prosperity  are  touched,  and 
perhaps  stricken  down.  For  then  will  come  the  inquiry, 
What  does  this  interest  require  us  to  do  ?  and  after  a  while 
the  next  question  will  occur,  What  does  our  duty  require 
of  us?  and  when  duty  is  strengthened  by  interest,  it  has 
gained  a  great  accession  of  power. 

The  first  answer  made  to  this  inquiry  of  interest  is,  Look 
after  the  politics  of  the  country ;  look  after  them  as  you 


120  MEMOIR  OF 

look  after  your  ships,  your  banks,  your  mills,  your  business, 
for  it  is  of  as  much  practical  importance  to  you  as  any  or  all 
of  these.  And  when  duty  asks  also,  the  answer  is,  Begin  at 
the  beginning.  Teach  your  children  the  true  principles  of 
politics,  and  how  to  keep  a  government  free  and  pros- 
perous ;  and  impress  upon  them  the  duty,  and  exhibit  to 
them  the  example,  of  vivid  interest,  and  constant  watchful- 
ness, and  careful  discrimination  as  to  the  men  to  be  placed 
in  power  ;  and  teach  all  this  as  a  thing  which  stands  in  posi- 
tive rank  and  practical  importance  before  Latin  and  Greek, 
or  the  calculus,  whether  integral  or  differential,  or  even 
book-keeping  by  single  or  double  entiy,  however  good  in 
their  place  all  these  may  be. 

Then  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  progress  of  things  will 
be  upward,  instead  of  downward.  Then,  it  may  be  hoped, 
with  the  advancing  intelligence  of  the  community,  their 
understanding  of  their  political  duties  will  grow  clearer ; 
and  with  the  improving  morality  of  the  community,  their 
discharge  of  these  duties  will  grow  more  complete  and 
habitual ;  and  it  may  even  be  hoped,  that  in  that  far  dis- 
tance Religion  will  find  institutions  which  she  may  fill  with 
her  life,  without  casting  upon  them  fetters,  or  finding  her 
own  purity  tainted  and  diseased  by  their  corruptions. 

Even  at  the.  risk  of  a  wearisome  repetition,  it  must  be 
said  again,  that  I  cannot  name  the  place,  or  the  hour,  or  the 
very  words,  at  which  or  in  which  I  know  that  my  father 
expressed  anything  of  this  kind.  If  any  reader  choose  to 
believe  that  1  am  wholly  mistaken,  and  that  I  have  no 
grounds  lor  attributing  these,  opinions  to  him,  I  can  only 
say  he  may  be  right,  but  I  think  he  is  wrong.  Impres- 
sions of  this  kind  have  lain  on  my  mind  from  my  boyhood, 
from  the  earliest  dav  when  T  could  have  opinions  on  these 
subjects  ;  and  T  have  looked  upon  them  as  taught  me  by 
him  ;  and  as  those  which,  if  not  in  their  full  development, 
yet  in  their  living  germs,  I  was  accustomed  to  hear  from 
him  and  from  those  who  were  nearest  to  him  in  friendship 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  121 

and  in  sympathy.  On  this  ground,  and  after  earnest  en- 
deavors to  make  this  statement  true,  I  leave  it  to  others 
to  come  to  what  conclusion,  in  respect  to  its  accuracy,  may 
seem  to  them  reasonable. 

I  have  already  remarked,  that  my  father  was  exceed- 
ingly unwilling  to  hold  office.  It  has  been  often  said,  and 
sometimes  in  print,  that  the  office  of  Attorney-General  of 
the  United  States  and  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court  Avere  offered  him  more  than  once.  I  happen  to  have 
some  evidence  that  the  place  of  Attorney-General  of  the 
United  States  was  offered  him  ;  but  I  have  my  doubts 
whether  a  judgeship  in  the  national  court  ever  was.  His 
determination  not  to  hold  office  which  would  take  him  from 
home  was  early  formed  and  expressed,  and  well  known  to 
his  family  and  his  personal  friends.  The  following  letter 
from  the  Hon.  Timothy  Pickering,  and  his  answer,  illustrate 
this  determination  of  his.  I  infer  from  it  that  President 
Adams  personally  desired  him  to  hold  an  oflice  worth  one 
thousand  pounds  sterling  per  annum,  —  in  those  days  a 
large  salary,  —  and  added  to  the  request  what  was,  in  fact, 
an  assurance  that,  when  this  office  ceased,  he  should  receive 
any  high  professional  appointment  Avhich  should  become 
vacant.  It  will  be  seen  from  his  answer,  that  he  declined 
the  appointment,  in  terms  and  for  reasons  which  would  pre- 
vent a  repetition  of  the  offer. 

TIMOTHY  PICKERING  TO  THEOMIILUS  PARSONS. 

Philadelphia,  November  20,  1797. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  have  now  before  me  a  letter  from  Colonel  Innes  of  Virginia, 
one  of  our  Commissioners  for  examining  and  deciding  on  the 
claims  of  British  creditors  of  American  citizens  for  debts  con- 
tracted prior  to  the  peace  of  1 783,  by  which  it  appears  doubtful 
whether  his  health  will  be  so  far  restored  as  to  enable  him  again 
to  join  the  board  in  this  city.  His  colleague,  Mr.  Fitzsimons, 


122  MEMOIR   OF 

has  expressed  a  wish  that  we  might  think  of  a  successor  to 
Colonel  Innes,  in  case  he  should  not  recover.  The  letter  and 
this  wish  I  have  exhibited  to  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
by  whose  direction  I  now  communicate  the  information  to  you, 
for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether,  in  case  of  a  vacancy, 
you  would  accept  the  oflice.  The  business,  you  are  sensible,  is 
of  magnitude,  and  there  will  be  some  important  law  questions  to 
be  determined.  None  have  yet  been  decided.  The  foundations 
of  the  board's  proceedings  are  yet  to  be  laid.  Various  causes 
have  contributed  to  this  delay. 

Permit  me  to  express  an  opinion,  that  you  have  long  enough 
pursued  the  laborious  practice  of  the  law  ;  and  that  your  coun- 
try is  entitled  to  some  portion  of  your  life  and  eminent  talents. 
These  talents  the  President  earnestly  desires  to  bring  into  public 
action.  In  the  strongest  language  he  expressed  these  desires. 

The  business  of  the  Commission  will  probably  last  two  years  ; 
the  salary  of  a  Commissioner  is  one  thousand  pounds  sterling  per 
annum.  When  this  employment  ends,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
you  may  be  continued  in  the  public  service,  if  agreeable  to  you, 
in  some  other  line,  — if  not  immediately,  yet  with  no  long  inter- 
val, • —  and  in  a  station  congenial  to  what  has  hitherto  been  the 
main  business  of  your  life. 

The  President  is  induced  to  ask,  beforehand,  whether,  in  case 
of  vacancy,  you  would  accept  the  oflice  of  Commissioner,  that 
no  time  may  be  lost  in  supplying  it,  —  seeing  so  great  delays 
have  thus  far  happened  in  this  business. 

You  will  oblige  me  by  an  early  answer. 

J  am,  with  very  great  respect  and  esteem, 

Dear  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

TIMOTHY  PICKERING. 

Tur.orniLus  PARSONS  TO  TIMOTHY  PICKKUINT,. 

(No  date  on  tliu  copy.) 
Pi  AH   Silt: 

I  feel  myself  much  obliged  to  the  President  and  to  you  for  the. 
very  friendly  contents  of  your  favor  of  the  'Joth  ultimo.  I  have 
endeavored  to  prevail  upon  my.-clf  to  meet  the  wishes  of  the 
President,  and  to  believe  that  my  present  state  of  health  is  no 
objection.  For  about  MX  ueeks  past  I  have  been  much  oppressed 
by  a  vertiginous  complaint,  which  at  times  deprives  me  of  the 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  123 

power  of  reading.  At  the  last  terms  of  the  courts,  I  was  com- 
pelled to  request  some  friend  at  the  bar  to  read  what  the  causes 
of  my  clients  made  necessary  to  be  read.  The  disorder  is  in 
some  degree  removed,  and  I  have  delayed  answering  your  letter, 
hoping  that  my  health  would  soon  be  quite  re-established.  But 
I  am  disappointed,  as  I  now  have  occasionally  some  slight  returns 
of  the  original  disorder.  On  this  ground,  my  friends  are  opposed 
to  my  leaving  home,  and  I  confess  that  my  opinion  coincides  with 
theirs,  when  I  consider  that  the  principles  to  be  settled  are  new, 
of  great  national  importance,  and  will  require  a  close,  critical, 
and  probably  a  long  attention.  I  am  the  more  reconciled  to  the 
necessity  of  declining  the  appointment,  as  I  have  doubts  whether 
the  nomination  of  some  other  gentleman  might  not  be  more  pro- 
ductive to  the  interests  of  the  United  States.  The  people  cer- 
tainly expect  a  rigid  construction  of  the  treaty,  when  perhaps  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  convince  me  that  provisions,  whether 
introduced  into  a  statute  or  treaty,  for  the  purpose  of  redressing 
a  wrong  and  of  compensating  an  injury,  ought  to  have  a  liberal 
construction. 

I  know  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  man  to  support  the  govern- 
ment that  protects  him ;  and  my  vanity  induces  me  to  believe 
that,  being  in  private  life  unconnected  with  the  Administration 
by  any  honors  or  emoluments  that  are  derived  from  it,  I  have 
been  able  from  that  situation  the  more  effectually  to  contribute 
to  its  support  among  my  fellow-citizens.  Certainly  the  people  of 
the  County  of  Essex,  from  a  union  of  political  influence,  have 
been  kept,  in  the  most  critical  seasons,  firm  and  steady  friends  to 
the  national  government.  In  the  political  ship  there  must  be 
common  seamen  as  well  as  pilots  ;  and  a  mutiny  of  the  crew  may 
as  effectually  destroy  her  as  a  division  among  the  officers. 

Believing,  as  I  firmly  do,  that  the  political  principles  of  the 
President  are  the  only  basis  of  an  honest,  effectual,  and  wise 
administration  of  the  government,  I  wish  him  to  be  assured  that 
he  may  command  any  assistance  which  he  may  think  it  in  my 
power  to  furnish,  and  that  a  want  of  health  or  peculiar  family 
considerations  will  alone  prevent  me  from  taking  any  ground  he 
may  think  proper  to  assign  me.  I  do  not,  my  dear  Sir,  trouble 
you  with  these  professions  from  any  opinion  that  my  services  can 
be  wanted  in  any  place  under  government ;  for  while  the  prin- 
cipal departments  continue  to  be  supplied  with  the  characters 


J24  MEMOIR  OF 

of  which   they  now  boast,  (not   meaning  to   include   the  Vice- 
Presidency.)  the  people  will  rest  assured  that  their  sovereignty 
will  be  preserved,  their  honor  protected,  and  their  rights  secured. 
I  am,  with  great  respect  and  esteem,  yours,  &c., 

TIIEOPIIILUS  PAUSOXS. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  my  father  puts  las  refusal  on  the 
"round  of  ill  health,  and  that  he  intimates  that  he  might 

C1  o 

comply  with  the  President's  request  at  some  other  time. 
Soon  after,  he  caused  it  to  be  understood  that  he  could 
accept  no  office  whatever. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  he  was  never  again  active  as  a  politician.  In  the 
very  few  instances  in  which  he  was  in  the  Legislature,  he 
was  there  rather  as  a  lawyer,  and  he  labored  only  in  refer- 
ence to  certain  reforms  of  the  lawr. 

To  some  of  these  I  may  refer  in  other  chapters.  To  one 
of  them,  that  relating  to  the  rights  and  position  of  aliens  in 
this  country,  which  I  mention  here  because  it  is  in  some 
measure  a  political  topic,  the  following  letter  from  Judge 
David  Sewall  drew  my  father's  attention,  or  rather  gave 
him  especial  occasion  to  consider  it,  for  it  was  always  a  topic 
of  much  interest  with  him. 

DAVID  SEAVALL  TO  TiiEomiLrs  PARSONS. 

York,  November  2Cth,  1781. 
Sin  : 

My  department  in  t'ie  revision  of  the  laws,  among  other  mat- 
ters, includes  tlir.  inheritance,  distribution,  and  partition  of  estates, 
convi  yum'!'  af  tin'  name,  &c.,  the  principal  part  of  which  I  have 
done.  The  doctrine  of  alienage  has  attracted  my  attention  for  a 
day  or  two  past,  as  an  incidental  matter,  at  least,  to  this  part  of 
my  system.  I  have,  hammered  out  the  enclosed  bill,  which  I 
want  your  metaphysical  head  to  scrutinize  and  polish.  The  gen- 
eral outline  of  the  bill,  I  suppose,  is  the  law  of  the  land  already, 
though,  perhaps,  not  generally  known.  I  conceive  manv  nice, 
distinctions  may  be  made,  in  hearing  a  bill  of  this  kind,  between 
the  Absentee  Act,  the  Confiscation  Bill,  and  the  intention  of  the 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  125 

Legislature  in  an  act  enabling  the  judge  of  probate  to  appoint 
agents  to  the  estates  of  persons  in  Great  Britain,  and  whether  it 
can  be  thus  heard  -without  somehow  interfering  may  be  a  ques- 
tion ;  and  if  it  should  cut  off  some  of  the  excrescences  of  those 
statutes,  —  as  perhaps  they  were  originated  on  the  spur  of  the 
occasion,  — whether  an  act  of  this  kind,  even  should  that  be  the 
case,  on  general  principles,  would  not  be  eligible.  I  have  inten- 
tionally extended  the  disabilities,  in  some  instances,  beyond  what 
some  authorities  seem  to  allow  aliens ;  but  I  did  not  mean  to 
injure  the  statute  made  in  favor  of  the  subjects  of  France,  dying 
intestate,  in  personal  estate,  although  I  have  neither  of  those  acts 
before  me.  There  is  not,  if  my  memory  serves  me,  either  in  the 
Constitution  or  in  any  statute  of  this  government,  a  precise  defi- 
nition of  a  subject;  and  it  seemed  to  me  expedient  to  approxi- 
mate at  least  some  degrees  nearer  the  line  of  partition  than  has 
been  done,  and  say  who  arc  not  aliens.  Your  remarks  on  the 
bill,  as  well  as  the  expediency  of  having  one  of  the  kind  passed, 
to  prevent  inconveniences  that  may  arise,  will  both  oblige  and 
gratify  me. 

Your  humble  servant, 

DAVID  SKV\-ALL. 

P.  S.  I  wish  you  would  draw  an  act  for  incorporating  Dummer 
School  into  an  academy,  as  that  may  put  it  beyond  the  power  of 
a  particular  parish  to  frustrate  the  benevolent  design  of  the  do- 
nor. I  should  incline  to  have  the  master  for  the  time  being  the 
incumbent,  so  that  the  estate  might  be  brought  completely  within 
the  usual  phraseology  of  our  tax  acts,  exempting  grammar-school- 
masters, ministers,  and  their  estates  under  their  actual  improve- 
ment, &c. ;  about  seven  trustees,  of  which  the  minister  of  Byfield 
for  the  time  being  should  be  one  ;  the  incumbent  to  be  answerable 
for  dilapidations ;  the  trustees  to  take  personal  estate  to  a  certain 
annual  income,  and,  during  the  vacancy  of  a  master,  to  bring  tres- 
pass against  any  person  who  shall  injure  the  realty,  and  take  the 
profits  until  another  master  shall  be  appointed.  There  has  been 
some  talk  in  the  Committee  of  Revision  respecting  a  court  mer- 
chant, or  some  speedy  mode  for  foreigners  that  may  trade  hither 
to  recover  their  demands  ;  —  perhaps  a  recognizance  before  some 
respectable  person  or  persons  in  the  seaports,  and  on  a  failure  of 
paying  the  money  at  the  day,  execution  to  issue,  in  nature  of  a 
distress.  But  this  is  in  Judge  Sullivan's  department. 


12G  MEMOIR   OF 

Among  his  papers  arc  some  loose  sheets,  apparently  form- 
ing part  of  an  unfinished  essay,  or  something  of  the  kind, 
on  the  subject  of  aliens.  There  are  many  references  to 
statutory  provisions  and  to  the  principles  of  the  common 
law,  and  various  suggestions  about  them.  But  the  begin- 
ning and  the  end  are  lost,  and  of  what  remains  much  is  mere 
note  or  reference,  unintelligible  to  any  one  but  the  writer; 
and  I  do  not  print  it. 

For  many  reasons  I  wish  it  had  been  more  perfect,  or 
that  I  could,  from  this  or  other  authority,  state  with  clear- 
ness and  certainty  his  views  in  regard  to  aliens.  I  know 
very  well  what  I  believe  them  to  have  been ;  but  I  am  not 
so  sure  of  the  grounds  of  my  belief.  I  strive  to  recall  his 
words,  or  those  of  his  friends,  but  I  cannot.  But  Avhile  my 
recollections  on  this  subject  are  very  dim,  I  have  little  or  no 
doubt  of  their  general  accuracy. 

I  should  say,  then,  that  he  was  disposed  to  open  to  immi- 
grants an  entrance  into  this  country  without  any  reservation 
whatever,  except  against  crime.  It  was  his  firm  belief,  that 
Providence  was  constructing  here  a  refuge  for  the  oppressed 
of  every  nation  ;  and  when  they  fled  from  suffering,  or  from 
rational  fears  of  misgovernment,  or  to  improve  their  condi- 
tion by  the  facilities  which  our  wide  lands  and  unfettered  in- 
dustry oll'ered  them,  he  would  meet  them  at  our  shores  with 
sincere  and  earnest  welcome,  and  would  make  all  neces- 
sary provision  for  their  entire  security  and  their  prosperity. 
But  that  this  country  might  continue  to  be  a  refuge  for 
those  who  were  oppressed  or  threatened  in  other  lands,  it 
must  be  preserved  from  the  mischiefs  which  have  made  the 
institutions  and  government  of  those  other  lands  oppressive 
and  destructive.  It  must  be  protected  against  the  peril  of 
importing  with  those  who  had  fled  from  other  countries  the 
very  evils  and  abuses  from  which  they  fled,  or  the  illusions 
and  corruptions  which  would  lead  inevitably  to  the  same 
results.  If  in  other  countries  guarded  and  legal  liberty  is 
impossible,  it  must  be  because  the  subjects  of  those  countries 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  127 

are  incapable  of  comprehending  and  preserving  it;  and  let 
those  subjects  bring  to  this  country  the  same  unfitness  and 
incapacity,  and  let  them  possess  political  power  here,  and 
the  same  impossibility  of  preserving  constitutional  liberty 
will  exist  here.  If  this  country  is  to  remain  better  than 
other  countries,  —  better,  that  is,  in  all  the  advantages  which 
our  institutions  permit  or  confer,  —  these  institutions  must 
be  guarded  equally  from  violent  and  from  insidious  assault. 
For  the  sake,  not  of  ourselves  merely,  but  of  those  very 
immigrants,  they  must  be  prevented  from  any  interference 
with,  or  any  influence  over,  our  political  institutions,  until 
they  have  outgrown  the  ways  of  thinking  or  feeling  or  act- 
ing which  belonged  to  the  home  they  left.  If  they  come 
here  without  the  wish  to  become  American  in  character  as 
well  as  in  nationality,  assuredly  they  should  not  ask,  or  if 
they  asked  they  should  not  be  permitted,  to  possess  the  right 
of  interference  with  the  formation  or  the  administration  of 
our  laws.  And  if  they  did  wish  to  become  American,  and 
were  rational  and  honest,  their  wish  would  be  to  become 
American  not  merely  in  their  rights,  but  in  their  correlative 
duties,  and  in  their  fitness  and  capacity  for  the  discharge  of 
those  duties. 

In  few  words,  my  father's  principle  Avould  be,  that  no  for- 
eigner should  become  a  citizen  of  this  country  until  all  rea- 
sonable provisions  and  precautions  were  complied  with,  to 
promote  his  becoming  so  in  heart  and  in  intellect.  He  an- 
ticipated a  rapid  and  extensive  increase  in  the  prosperity  of 
this  country,  and  a  proportional  increase  in  the  attractions  it 
holds  out  to  those  who  hang  loose  upon  the  fringes  of  soci- 
ety elsewhere,  and  are  easily  shaken  off.  I  am  mistaken  if 
he  did  not  foretell,  frequently  and  emphatically,  that  marvel- 
lous flood  of  immigration  which  fills  our  country  with  all  the 
races,  and  all  the  habits,  and  nearly  all  the  errors  and  abuses, 
which  prevail  anywhere  in  the  world.  And  he  hoped  that 
this  flood,  with  all  its  feculence  and  turbulence,  might  never- 
theless enrich,  and  not  overwhelm,  our  country,  provided 


128  MEMOIR   OF 

only  the  proper  distinction  was  made.  For  he  would  have 
the  coming  immigrant  welcomed  to  a  full  share  in  all  our 
prosperity,  but  to  no  share  whatever  in  the  franchises  which 
would  affect  the  laws  or  institutions  by  which  that  prosperity 
was  protected,  until  time,  the  great  teacher,  had  taught  him 
the  trite  difference  between  all  that  he  had  left,  and  all  that 
he  had  found.  For  it  is  too  much  to  ask  of  any  human 
beings,  that  they  should  comprehend  at  once  things  so  totally 
novel  as  everything  here  must  be  to  a  European.  And  it 
is  too  much  to  ask  of  any  human  institutions,  that,  while 
young  and  yielding,  and  undefended  by  the  protecting  power 
of  antiquity,  they  should  successfully  resist  the  unremitting 
blows  of  prejudice,  passion,  and  ignorance  ;  and  therefore 
adequate  provision  must  be  made  that  those  blows  should 
not  reach  them. 

But,  now  that  I  have  written  this,  my  recollection  of  it 
seems  so  indistinct,  and  my  evidence  so  slight,  that  it  seems 
to  me  little  better  than  conjecture.  But  it  may  stand  for 
whatever  it  is  worth. 

As  an  instance  of  the  methods  he  sometimes  adopted  to 
make  known  his  opinions  upon  interesting  political  or  legal 
opinions,  I  may  give  here  the  following  letter  to  Mr.  Tracy, 
of  which  I  find  a  copy  among  his  papers.  It  has  no  date, 
but  undoubtedly  refers  to  Shays's  rebellion. 

Tnr.ormi.us   PARSONS  TO  NATHANIEL  TRACY. 

DKAH   SMS: 

I  was  informed,  just  as  I  left  Boston,  that  it  had  been  assorted 
in  Mr.  1'aine's  insurance,  office,  in  your  presence,  as  my  opinion, 
that  tlie  (ioverimr  had  no  authority  to  assemble  the  militia  in 
martial  array,  and  with  them,  by  force  of  arms,  to  seize  the  insur- 
gents, ami  to  lire  upon  them  it'  it  should  be  necessary,  in  order  to 
the  defeating  of  their  designs  and  the  bringing  of  them  to  pun- 
ishment, iiititiniirh  a*  tin'  L' i/tslnturc  lind  not  declared  a  n  \><ll\on  to 
rrist.  I  was  also  informed  tliat  you  contradicted  the  assertion, 
knowing  my  opinion  to  he  very  different.  I  feel  myself  much 
obliged  to  you  for  your  friendly  conduct ;  and  I  assure,  you  that 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  129 

you  were  perfectly  right.  The  authority  of  the  Governor,  at 
this  day,  is  a  matter  of  great  consequence  to  the  public,  and  I 
fear  that  doubts  about  the  true  extent  of  it  have  already  pro- 
duced measures  which  I  think  very  unfortunate  to  the  Common- 
wealth. As  it  is  of  so  much  importance  that  the  public  mind 
should  be  rightly  settled  upon  this  question,  I  wish  gentlemen  of 
influence  and  ability  would  take  some  pains  to  diffuse  just  appre- 
hensions of  the  matter.  Though,  as  a  professional  man,  I  have 
no  influence,  yet,  to  satisfy  you  and  my  friends  that  the  opinion  I 
have  formed  is  not  a  hasty  and  premature  one,  I  have  devoted  a 
leisure  hour  to  send  you  the  reasons  that  influenced  me.  But 
first  let  us  settle  the  fact,  before  we  reason  upon  the  law.  And  I 
suppose  it  will  be  admitted  that  the  insurgents  have  embodied 
themselves  as  an  armed  force  under  certain  leaders ;  that  they 
have  acted  in  a  warlike,  hostile  manner ;  that  their  declared  in- 
tention is,  the  attacking  of  the  administration  of  justice  ;  that,  in 
pursuance  of  this  declaration,  they  have,  in  a  warlike  and  hostile 
manner,  prevented  the  sitting  of  the  courts  of  common  pleas  in 
the  counties  of  Berkshire,  Hampshire,  Worcester,  Middlesex,  and 
Bristol ;  that  they  have  discovered  the  same  hostile  intention 
against  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  and  have  col- 
lected, in  a  warlike,  hostile  manner,  to  support  such  intentions. 
If  these  facts  are  admitted,  the  perpetrators  of  them  must  be 
considered  as  traitors,  levying  war  against  the  Commonwealth;  as 
persons  who,  in  a  hostile  manner,  are  attempting  and  enterprising 
the  destruction,  detriment,  and  annoijance  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Now,  any  private  person  may,  by  his  own  authority,  arrest  any 
felon  or  traitor ;  and,  if  he  cannot  do  it  without  assistance,  he 
may  call  others  to  his  aid ;  and  if  the  felon  or  traitor  fly  or  resist, 
he  may  justify  killing  him,  if  he  cannot  otherwise  be  taken.  This 
authority  private  persons  have  by  force  of  the  common  law ;  and 
it  would  seem  strange  if  the  Commander-in-chief,  and  the  citizens 
in  martial  array  under  him,  should  not  have  equal  authority. 
But  the  authority  of  the  Governor  does  not  rest  upon  legal  deduc- 
tions, formed  from  the  right  an  individual  is,  in  this  case,  invested 
with  by  the  common  law,  however  conclusive  such  deductions 
may  be  esteemed. 

The  Constitution  provides,  among  other  things,  that  the  Gov- 
ernor shall  be  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  militia ;  that  he 
may,  for  the  special  defence  and  safety  of  the  Commonwealth, 
9 


130  MEMOIR   OF 

assemble  in  martial  array  the  inhabitants  thereof;  that  he  may 
lead  anil  conduct  them,  and  encounter  by  force  of  arms,  and  also 
kill,  slay,  and  destroy,  if  necessary,  all  and  every  such  person  and 
persons  as  shall,  in  a  hostile  manner,  attempt  or  enterprise  the  de- 
struction, invasion,  detriment,  or  annoyance  of  the  Commonwealth, 
and  that  he  may  exercise  over  the  militia  in  actual  service  the  law 
martial,  in  time  of  war  or  invasion,  and  also  in  time  of  rebellion, 
declared  by  the  Legislature  to  exist.  Now  if  it  is  admitted  that  the 
insurgents  are  traitors,  levying  war  in  a  hostile  manner  against 
the  Commonwealth,  they  must  be  considered  as  attempting  and 
enterprising  the  detriment  and  annoyance  of  it,  and  therefore 
come  within  the  description  of  those  persons  pointed  out  in  the 
Constitution;  and  the  Governor  must  consequently  have  the  au- 
thority contended  for.  The  Constitution  gives  it  to  him.  The 
safety  of  the  Commonwealth  requires  it.  Whatever  doubts  have 
been  stated  upon  this  question,  they  must,  I  conceive,  have  arisen 
from  the  clause  giving  the  exercise  of  martial  law.  But  I  do  not 
see  how  that  clause  can,  upon  consideration,  affect  the  question. 
True  it  is,  that  martial  law  cannot  be  exercised  over  the  militia 
in  actual  service  during  a  rebellion,  but  ichcn  such  rebellion  has 
been  recognized  by  the  Legislature  ;  but  can  this  interfere  with  the 
Governor's  right  to  use  force  to  crush  the  rebellion,  to  bring  the 
perpetrators  to  public  justice,  and  to  kill  those  actually  in  arms 
against  the  Commonwealth,  and  acting  in  a  hostile  manner,  who 
cannot  otherwise  be  taken  ?  That  traitors  in  arms  against  the 
Commonwealth,  and  acting  in  a  hostile  manner,  are  within  the 
description  of  those  persons  whom  the  Governor  may  attack  and 
kill,  if  necessary  to  support  the  government,  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  for  they  come  within  the  express  words  of  the  Constitu- 
tion,—  and  the  Governor  hath  not  any  authority  to  use  force  to  sup- 
press any  rebellion  declared  to  exist  by  the  Legislature,  unless  he 
derives  it  from  the  same  words.  And  further,  the  limitation  he  is 
under  from  exercising  martial  law  is  confined  to  the  army,  navy, 
or  militia  in  actual  service,  and  is  not  extended  to  include  the 
rebels  in  arms. 

It  may  then  be  asked,  Of  what  import  is  this  limit  at  inn  ?  The, 
answer  is  obvious.  The  militia  are  thereby  protected  from  the 
effects  of  martial  law;  they  must  still  be  governed  In  tin-  fixed 
and  stated  laws  of  tin-  land,  and  subject  only  to  the  pains  and 
penalties  therein  provided.  The  framers  of  the  Constitution 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  131 

supposed,  perhaps  erroneously,  that  in  ordinary  cases  of  rebellion 
those  pains  and  penalties  would  produce  an  adequate  force  for 
the  public  protection  ;  that  a  suflicient  number  of  brave,  loyal, 
and  determined  citizens  would  always  appear  ready  to  support 
their  government ;  that  a  majority  of  the  people  would  be  too 
wise  and  too  well  informed  to  permit  the  basis  of  their  rights  and 
privileges  to  be  overturned  by  a  needy,  desperate  banditti ;  that 
to  support  their  Constitution,  and  to  guard  their  liberties,  motives 
superior  to  the  sanctions  of  martial  law  would  operate ;  that  an 
attachment  to  the  rights  of  mankind,  a  love  to  their  country,  and 
a  regard  to  themselves  and  to  their  posterity,  would  produce  a 
force  superior  to  what  the  artifices  of  treason  or  the  frenzy  of 
rebellion  could  form ;  that  the  subjugation  of  traitors  in  arms 
would  commonly  be  the  work  of  a  short  period,  during  which 
every  good  citizen  would  cheerfully  leave  his  ordinary  occupa- 
tion ;  and  that,  when  a  rebellion  had  acquired  such  strength  as 
rendered  a  long  time  necessary  to  suppress  it,  and  the  militia 
must  be  kept  some  time  in  the  field,  then  the  Legislature  miglit 
introduce  the  martial  law,  by  declaring  a  rebellion  to  exist.  If  a 
case  should  ever  arise  when  the  militia  should  refuse  to  take  the 
field  in  sufficient  force  to  support  the  government,  the  Legislature 
must  make  such  provision  as  the  emergency  shall  require,  by 
directing  impresses,  granting  bounties,  &c.,  &c. ;  but  martial  law, 
by  the  Constitution,  is  to  be  exercised  only  over  the  army,  navy, 
or  militia  in  actual  service, 

Such  arc  the  reasons  which  have  induced  me  to  form  my  opin- 
ion, and  I  sincerely  wish  that  all  our  rulers  had  entertained  the 
same,  and  given  it  its  full  operation.  We  should  not  then  have 
been  puzzled  to  distinguish  between  political  wisdom  and  per- 
sonal timidity,  nor  between  lenient  measures  and  a  submission  to 
the  claims  of  rebels  in  arms.  But,  nil  desperandum  de  republica. 
It  is  not  yet  too  late  ;  but  if  spirited  measures  arc  not  adopted, 
and  executed,  before  the  next  election,  I  fear  the  most  alarming 
apprehensions  will  be  justified. 

Yours  sincerely, 

THEOPII.  PARSONS. 

To  the  close  of  his  life  he  took  an  interest  in  the  politics 
of  the  State,  and  exerted  an  influence  upon  them  ;  but  not, 
I  am  persuaded,  so  great  an  influence  as  was  imputed  to 
him  by  some  persons. 


132  MEMOIR   OF 

It  need  not  be  said  that  he  remained  always  a  Federalist, 
for  the  Federal  party  was  the  party  of  conservatism  ;  and 
therefore  he  was  always,  thoroughly  and  without  reserve  or 
qualification,  a  Federalist.  lie  was  of  the  school  of  Strong, 
Lowell,  Cabot,  Ames,  Otis,  Pickering,  and  Prescott ;  and 
was,  I  suppose,  (Ames  perhaps,  not  certainly,  excepted,)  the 
most  determined,  resolute,  and  uncompromising  —  his  oppo- 
nents said  the  most  violent  —  of  them  all.  Many  of  those 
whose  names  I  have  mentioned  were,  however,  much  more 
active  than  lie  was.  I  cannot,  I  think,  be  mistaken  in  sup- 
posing that  he  gave  but  little  of  his  time  or  labor  to  politics. 
He  was  always  at  home  when  not  called  abroad  profession- 
ally. His  ways  of  life  were  perfectly  well  known  to  all  his 
family,  as  his  office  was  always  in  his  dwelling-house,  and 
he  almost  always  in  it.  I  doubt  whether  he  ever  attended 
a  public  meeting  of  any  kind  during  the  last  twenty  years  of 
his  life.  I  spent  much  of  my  time  in  his  office.  I  can  tell, 
and  presently  shall,  of  the  many  hours  he  spent  with  his 
books,  his  instruments,  and  his  scientific  friends  ;  but  I  can- 
not recall  any  one  gathering,  great  or  small,  in  the  office  or 
elsewhere  in  the  house,  for  political  purposes.  No  doubt 
there  were  such  meetings,  but  they  were  never  frequent ; 
and  very  few  took  place,  I  think,  during  the  last  ten  years 
of  his  life. 

In  his  day,  most  men  of  any  prominence  were  accus- 
tomed to  send  communications  to  the  newspapers,  in  sup- 
port of  whatever  opinions  they  wished  to  enforce  ;  generally 
under  an  assumed  but  recognized  name.  Some  persons,  as 
Ames,  Sullivan,  and  the  younger  Lowell,  did  this  very 
frequently.  But  I  cannot  exhibit  or  illustrate  my  father's 
opinions  by  writings  of  this  kind,  for  I  have  not  been  able 
to  ascertain  that  he  ever  published  one  such  article. 

Among  those  of  my  father's  papers  which  I  still  have, 
are  a  few  letters  from  eminent  men  of  his  day,  relating, 
more  or  less  directly,  to  political  subjects.  These  I  shall 
print  in  the  Appendix. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PAESONS.  133 


CHAPTER   IY. 

OF    HIM    AS    A    LAWYER. 

I  HAVK  not  the  slightest  recollection  of  my  father  as  a 
lawyer.  When  he  went  upon  the  bench  I  was  nine  years 
old.  During  the  next  seven  years  he  was  a  judge,  and 
as  such  I  remember  many  things  about  him,  but  nothing  of 
his  professional  position  or  conduct  before  that  period. 

The  law  was,  however,  not  only  his  profession,  but  his 
only  means  of  subsistence.  If  there  be  any  foundation  for 
what  has  been  already  said  of  him,  it  would  be  inferred  that 
he  Avould  labor  strenuously  for  success,  and  that  he  would 
succeed.  And  I  suppose  he  did  succeed,  soon,  completely, 
and  permanently. 

For  this  success  it  might  be  enough  to  refer  to  his  gen- 
eral intelligence,  his  devotion  to  duty,  and  his  earnest  indus- 
try. By  him,  however,  it  was  attributed  in  good  part  to  a 
specific  cause,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded ;  and  that 
was,  the  opportunity  he  had  of  studying  the  law,  under  cir- 
cumstances peculiarly  favorable,  with  Judge  Trowbridge. 
I  have  already  anticipated  upon  this  point  what  might  have 
been  deferred  perhaps  more  appropriately  to  this  chapter. 
I  repeat,  however,  that  this  eminent  jurist  dearly  loved  the 
law  as  a  science.  He  took  with  him  to  my  grandfather's 
house  the  best  law  library  then  existing  in  America  ;  for  in 
those  days  law-books  could  only  be  had  by  importing  them 
at  great  cost  from  England.  There  he  found  in  my  father 
a  young  man  of  intelligence,  who  possessed  the  power  and 
habit  of  persistent  industry,  and  who  repaid  the  Judge's 


134  MEMOIR  OF 

endeavor  to  teach  by  an  enthusiastic  desire  to  learn. 
There,  by  the  compulsion  of  circumstances,  which  my  father 
greatly  regretted  at  the  time,  and  which  seemed  to  throw 
a  blight  over  prospects  that  had  opened  brilliantly,  they 
remained  a  considerable  time  ;  and,  instead  of  pursuing  the 
practice  of  his  profession  and  earning  a  living  as  soon  as 
he  was  ready  to  begin,  my  father  was  compelled  to  stay  at 
home,  doing  only  what  little  business  came  within  his  reach, 
and  employed  with  all  his  might  in  a  close  and  uninter- 
rupted study  of  the  principles  and  the  authorities  of  the  law. 
The  consequence  of  this  was,  that,  when  he  entered  more 
fully  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession,  he  had  a  decided 
advantage  over  every  other  man  of  his  time  ;  and  the  con- 
sequence of  this,  again,  was  the  promptitude  and  entire- 
ness  of  his  success.  He  first  began  business  in  Falmouth 
(now  Portland),  as  has  -been  said,  and  removed  to  Essex 
County  when  about  twenty-five  years  old.  When  he  was 
twenty-nine,  Judge  Grecnleaf  of  Newburyport  said  to  his 
daughter  Elizabeth,  who  kept  his  house,  that  on  such  a  day 
she  must  provide  a  dinner  for  a  few  friends,  and  among 
them  he  mentioned  "  Mr.  Parsons,"  who  at  that  time  had 
never  been  in  his  house.  "  Do  you  mean  Mr.  Parsons 
whom  everybody  is  talking  about  ? "  said  Miss  Betsey  ; 
"  why,  I  .shall  not  dare  to  utter  a  word."  "  Well,"  said  the 
Judge,  "  you  need  not  ;  he  will  talk  for  you  and  himself 
too,  if  you  wish  it."  This  story  my  mother  used  to  tell ; 
and,  while  very  liberal  allowances  must  be  made  for  such 
an  anecdote,  so  told,  before  it  can  have  the  value  of  an  his- 
torical verity,  there  must  have  been  some  foundation  for  it, 
for  we  know  that  a  year  or  two  before  this  he  had  been  the 
leading  mind  and  voice;  of  the  "  Essex  Junto,"  which  would 
hardly  have;  happened  unless  he  had  won  a  decided  posi- 
tion. At  all  event-:,  he  talked  then  and  afterwards  well 
enough  to  win  a  suit  which  lit;  used  to  say  was  worth  all 
the  others  he  had  ever  gained  in  his  life  ;  for  in  less  than 
a  year  after  that  dinner  he  married  Miss  Betsey. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  135 

Apart  from  family  anecdotes  and  traditions,  and  the 
stories  of  old  friends,  which  are  much  the  same  thing  as 
family  traditions,  one  circumstance  indicates  this  early  and 
decided  success,  perhaps  conclusively.  He  was  a  prudent 
man,  and  lived  within  his  means,  from  the  first  day  in 
which  he  had  means.  At  thirty,  he  married,  and  imme- 
diately hired  a  house  in  Newburyport,  in  which  he  re- 
sided until  1790,  when  he  built,  as  I  have  already  stated,  a 
large  house  in  Green  Street,  which  he  occupied  while  he 
remained  in  Newburyport.  He  kept  servants  and  horses, 
and  saw  much  company,  and  from  his  marriage  lived  in  a 
way  which  would  have  been  very  extravagant,  if  he  were 
not  even  then  justified  in  relying  both  on  the  profitableness 
and  the  permanence  of  his  business.  His  account-books,  to 
which  I  have  already  alluded,  prove  that  his  business  was 
large  at  the  beginning,  and,  after  it  recovered  from  the 
check  caused  by  the  burning  of  Falmouth,  never  grew  less, 
but  constantly  increased. 

He  remained  in  Newburyport  until  1800,  when,  at  the 
age  of  fifty,  he  removed  to  Boston.  Before  his  removal  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  practising  in  all  the  New  England 
States,  as  well  as  in  all  parts  of  Massachusetts  ;  and  some- 
times, though  very  rarely,  in  New  York,  and  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

When  he  left  Newburyport  for  Boston,  gentlemen  in  that 
town  gave  him  a  farewell  dinner,  of  which  I  never  heard 
anything  but  the  enthusiastic  toast  of  Robert  Treat  Paine, 
the  poet,  who  had  been  my  father's  pupil,  and  continued  to 
be,  while  he  lived,  his  intimate  friend  :  "  Theophilus  Par- 
sons, the  oracle  of  law,  the  pillar  of  politics,  the  bulwark  of 
government."  To  which  my  father  replied :  "  The  Town 
of  Newburyport,  —  may  the  blessing  of  Heaven  rest  upon 
it  as  long  as  its  shores  are  washed  by  the  Merrimac." 

Let  me  in  this  connection  mention  another  anecdote  in 
which  Paine  is  concerned,  which  was  told  me  by  one  who 
was  present.  When  Washington  died,  Paine  was  appointed 


136  MEMOIR  OF 

to  deliver  a  eulogy,  and  rny  father  gave  a  large  dinner  on 
the  occasion.  The  numerous  guests  were  assembled,  and  the 
eulogy  was  praised  emphatically  and  unanimously,  with  one 
important  exception.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Gary  had  come,  not  to 
dine  with  the  orator,  but  to  protest  against  the  oration.  lie 
was  my  father's  minister,  and  one  of  the  best  of  men.  His 
trouble  lay  with  this  sentence  of  the  eulogy :  "  Legate  of 
Heaven,  he  has  returned  with  the  tidings  of  his  mission  ; 
father  of  his  people,  he  has  ascended  to  plead  their  cause 
in  the  bosom  of  his  God."  My  father  did  what  he  could  to 
qualify  or  excuse  these  expressions  ;  but  it  was  in  vain. 
"  No,  no,  sir,"  said  the  faithful  minister  ;  u  you  cannot 
defend  and  you  cannot  explain  that  language  ;  for  you  can- 
not prove  to  us  that  there  can  be  more  than  one  mediator 
between  God  and  man." 

Robert  Treat  Paine  was  the  poet  of  his  day,  and  in  that 
day  enthusiastically  admired.  I  remember  hearing  what 
were  thought  the  great  sums  of  money  paid  him  for  his 
poems.  He  was  then  praised  beyond  his  merits,  and  now 
his  actual  merit  is  forgotten.  lie  was  the  son  of  Judge 
Paine,  and  was  baptized  with  the  name  of  Thomas.  But 
when  Tom  Paine  the  infidel  made  that  name  infamous,  he 
had  his  name  changed,  and  took  that  of  his  father.  Soon 
after,  an  old  friend,  forgetting  the  change,  called  him  by  his 
old  name.  "  Don't  call  me  Tom  Paine  any  more,"  said  he ; 
"  I  have  a  Christian  name  now."  He  was  a  brilliant  com- 
panion, but  yielded  to  the  seductions  of  society  more  than 
was  consistent  with  a  due  devotion  to  his  profession.  lie 
died  in  1811,  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven. 

Of  my  father's  almost  intemperate  study  through  the 
time  spent  with  Judge  Trowbridge,  I  have  certain  and 
abundant  proof.  After  all  the  waste  and  dispersion  of 
his  papers,  of  which  L  have  already  spoken,  1  have  still 
manuscripts  enough  to  (ill  some  volumes,  which  were 
written  by  him  in  that  period.  They  fully  confirm  and 
illustrate  what  I  have  heard  him  say  wa^  his  method 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PAKSONS.  137 

of  study.  It  was  by  writing.  He  took  topic  after  topic, 
and  after  a  thorough  and  exhaustive  investigation  of  the 
decisions  and  dicta,  he  made  an  abstract  of  all  the  principles 
which  belonged  to  it,  and  of  all  the  authorities  which  bore 
upon  them.  These  manuscripts  indicate  three  things.  One 
is,  the  very  wide  extent  and  thoroughness  of  his  studies  and 
investigations.  Another  is,  the  excellence  and  magnitude 
of  the  library  he  had  at  command.  It  seems  to  have  con- 
tained all  the  valuable  books  on  English  law  then  in  exist- 
ence. And  still  another,  which  I  might  not  have  inferred 
from  the  manuscripts  themselves,  if  I  had  not  heard  him 
say  it ;  it  is,  that  the  fear  lest  he  should  be  unable  to  gain 
access  to  such  a  library  for  many  years,  led  him  to  make 
copious  abstracts  and  quotations,  which  would  answer  his 
purpose  in  the  absence  of  the  books. 

To  this  exact  preparation  on  a  variety  of  special  subjects, 
my  father  owed,  as  I  think,  not  only  his  early  success,  but 
much  of  the  ease  and  comfort  with  which  he  practised  or 
administered  the  law  during  his  life.  Chief  Justice  Isaac 
Parker,  who  was  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends,  and  for 
seven  years  his  colleague,  often  told  me  that  the  manu- 
scripts were  continually  used  by  him  in  forming  his  opin- 
ions ;  and  that  when  away  from  home,  and  with  neither 
them  nor  the  books  from  which  they  were  taken  within  his 
reach,  his  memory  would  recall  any  one  as  it  was  wanted  ; 
and  some  of  his  opinions,  which  embodied  a  series  of  impor- 
tant legal  propositions,  were  drafted  without  looking  into 
a  book. 

I  have  heard  very  many  anecdotes  of  the  advantages  he 
gained  from  this  method  and  completeness  of  study.  I  will 
mention  but  two.  One  I  have  heard  from  several  sources, 
but  most  directly  from  Mr.  William  Wells,  of  Cambridge. 
He  was  a  very  young  man,  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  at  the 
time  my  father  went  there,  retained  by  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut to  meet  Alexander  Hamilton  in  a  case  to  be  tried 
before  Chief  Justice  Ellsworth.  After  the  trial,  he  dined  at 


138  MEMOIR  OF 

Mr.  Wadsworth's,  who  had  invited  the  leading  members  of 
the  court  and  bar  then  in  Hartford.  At  dinner,  Hamilton 
said  :  "  Mr.  Parsons,  pray  let  me  ask  you  one  thing.  The 
point  I  made  "  (describing  it)  '•'  was  suggested  to  me  only 
after  much  study  of  the  case,  and  then  almost  by  accident, 
but  I  thought  it  very  strong.  You  were  fully  prepared  for  it, 
and  gathered  and  exhibited  the  authorities  at  once,  and  pre- 
vailed, and  I  must  submit ;  but  I  was  a  good  deal  surprised 
at  it ;  and  what  I  want  to  know  is,  whether  you  had  antici- 
pated that  point?"  "Not  in  the  least,"  was  the  ansAver; 
"but,  so  long  ago  as  when  I  was  studying  with  Judge  Trow- 
bridge,  the  question  was  suggested  tome,  and  I  made  a  brief 
of  the  authorities,  which  I  happened  to  have  brought  here  with 
me,  and  I  found  the  books  in  Judge  Ellsworth's  library." 

The  other  anecdote  my  father  was  fond  of  telling,  as  an 
illustration  of  the  assistance  these  notes  had  given  him. 
He  mentioned  it  to  Mr.  Webster,  when  he  was  a  student 
in  Boston  ;  and  by  Mr.  Webster  it  was  often  repeated. 
"While  I  was  studying  in  Byfield,  Judge  Trowbridge  said 
to  me,  that  he  thought  the  practice  of  the  English  common- 
law  courts,  in  requiring  proof  of  a  will  devising  real  estate 
whenever  it  was  to  be  used  in  those  courts  in  support  of 
title,  should  not  be  held  as  applicable  here,  because,  from 
the  nature  and  practice  of  our  courts  of  probate,  and  their 
relation  to  other  courts,  the  original  proof  in  probate  ought 
to  be  suilicient  and  conclusive  ;  and  if  the  Avill  were  subse- 
quently wanted  as  evidence  in  another  court,  a  mere  record 
of  the  judgment  and  decree  of  probate  should  be  enough, 
and  indeed  all  that  could  there  be  received,  because  those 
inquiries  which  precede,  probate  belong  here  exclusively  to 
a  court  of  probate.  Accordingly,  I  examined  this  question, 
and  made  my  brief,  and  filed  it  away.  Almost  the  first  case 
I  had  in  court  pre.-entcd  tins  question.  I  was  only  junior 
counsel,  and  my  senior  was  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the 
day.  We  needed  to  u<<.  ;l  will  which  had  received  probate; 
but  tin-  witnesses  by  whom  we  could  prove  it  anew,  in  the 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PAESONS.  139 

English  fashion,  were  unexpectedly  absent.  I  suggested  to 
my  senior  that  this  new  proof  was  unnecessary.  '  Nonsense,' 
said  he,  '  I  shall  make  no  such  point  as  that.'  '  May  I, 
then  ? '  said  I.  '  Yes,  but  on  your  own  responsibility.'  I 
made  the  point.  The  court  said  the  practice  was  uniformly 
against  me,  here  as  well  as  in  England,  —  they  had  no  doubt 
about  it ;  but  if  I  wished  to  be  heard  in  support  of  my  new 
views,  they  would  hear  me.  Whereupon  I  argued  from  my 
brief,  and  just  as  well  as  if  I  had  had  a  month  of  prepa- 
ration. I  satisfied  the  court,  succeeded  in  my  point,  and 
gained  a  most  undeserved  reputation  for  marvellous  readi- 
ness and  universal  knowledge.  And  I  found  the  effects  of 
this  in  the  immediate  increase  of  my  business." 

It  Avas  common,  as  some  of  the  papers  I  print  will  show, 
to  speak  of  his  memory  as  wonderful,  as  never  losing  any- 
thing intrusted  to  it,  and  as  keeping  everything  in  readiness 
for  instant  use.  But  a  distinction  must  be  taken  here.  He 
had  that  memory  for  some  things,  but  a  very  poor  memory 
indeed  for  others.  It  has  been  said  that  memory  is  of  two 
kinds,  —  the  arbitrary  and  the  associative.  By  the  first,  facts 
or  words  are  retained  and  recalled,  which  stand  in  no  neces- 
sary connection  with  anything  else,  and  might  as  well  have 
been  any  other  things  as  what  they  are.  The  names  of  per- 
sons are  words  of  this  kind ;  and  there  are  those  who  remem- 
ber them  easily  and  always.  It  is  said  to  belong  to  the  royal 
families  of  Europe  seldom  to  forget  the  face  and  name  of 
any  one  presented  to  them.  If  this  be  so,  it  may  be  but 
the  inheritance  of  faculties  invigorated  by  years  of  exercise 
through  many  generations.  Ludicrous  stories  are  told  of 
Napoleon  the  First,  who  tried  to  manifest  this  attribute  of 
royalty,  and  made  amusing  blunders  in  so  doing.  This 
memory  is  called  arbitrary,  because  the  words  remembered 
are  arbitrary.  Mr.  John  Smith  might  as  Avcll  have  been 
named  Thomas  Brown,  or  vice  versa ;  and  therefore  it  is 
not  easy  to  see  any  theory  or  proposition  or  truth  which 
derives  illustration  from  the  fact  that  this  individual  rather 
than  another  has  this  rather  than  any  other  name. 


140  MEMOIR  OF 

On  the  other  hand,  facts  or  principles  from  which  infer- 
ences may  be  drawn,  and  which  lead  to  or  from  conclusions, 
and  to  this  end  connect  themselves  indissolubly  with  other 
facts  or  principles,  —  these  are  not  isolated  or  arbitrary. 
Change  them,  and  YOU  change  the  whole  structure  of  which 

~  •> 

they  arc  a  part.  They  are  fastened  to  the  mind  by  their 
antecedents  or  consequences  or  associates  ;  and  the  memory 
which  retains  and  recalls  them  has  been  called  the  associ- 
ative memory. 

I  have  stated  this  to  illustrate  a  peculiarity  of  my  father's 
mind.  His  associative  memory  was,  I  believe,  Yery  remark- 
able. So  I  have  always  heard,  and  multitudinous  are  the 
anecdotes  which  help  to  prove  it.  I  have  a  strong  impres- 
sion, but  nothing  more,  that  I  have  heard  him  say  that  he 
never  lost  his  hold  upon  a  fact,  a  statement,  or  a  principle, 
of  which  he  could  make  any  use.  I  think  I  have  heard  him 
say  such  things  when  speaking  of  his  very  feeble  memory 
of  mere  names.  About  this  I  remember  only  that  it  was  a 
matter  of  jesting  occasionally  in  the  family,  and  that  he 
often  laughed  about  his  inability  to  recollect  such  words. 
It  led  to  a  habit  which  sometimes  amused  us.  lie  was  apf 
to  classify  persons,  and  apply  to  all  of  each  kind  some  name 
fixed  in  his  mind  as  belonging  to  them.  Thus,  soon  after 
his  marriage,  he  used  to  deal  with  a  Mr.  Patch,  of  Essex 
County.  —  J  think  of  the  town  of  Ipswich,  —  for  horses, 
and  always  afterwards  he  called  everybody  he  dealt  with 
about  horses  by  that  name.  AVhen  I  was  a  bov,  lie  bought 
horses  of  a  Mr.  Trask,  in  lioston ;  and  I  have  often  heard 
him  call  him  "Patch";  and  when  my  elder  brother,  who 
was  a  little  scandali/ed  by  this  would  tell  him,  more  than 
once,  "  Father,  this  is  Mr.  Tra~k,  not  Mr.  Patch,"  the  an- 
swer was,  ''No  matter,  mv  sou;  Patch  does  just  as  well"; 
and,  well  or  ill.  it  continued  to  do  service  for  Tra.-k. 

I  attribute  to  this  peculiarity  of  memory  also,  at  least  in 
part,  the  fact  that,  in  \\\<  opinions  as  judge,  lie  cites  fewer 
eases  than  any  judge  reported  in  our  language,  with  the 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  141 

possible  exception  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall.  Judge  Par- 
ker used  to  say  of  him,  half  in  jest,  that  he  knew  every- 
thing that  was  in  every  case  in  the  Reports  except  the  name. 
lie  used  the  reports  freely,  and  studied  them  with  great 
care ;  and,  from  what  I  have  heard,  I  should  say  he  could 
find  his  cases  with  unusual  facility  and  rapidity.  But  after 
he  had  found  a  case,  and  read  it,  and  made  of  it  all  the  use 
of  which  it  was  capable,  he  seemed  to  let  the  name  and 
place  pass  from  his  memory. 

My  colleague,  Chief  Justice  Joel  Parker,  relates  to  me  a 
circumstance  that  occurred  in  Ilillsborough  County,  New 
Hampshire,  some  seventy  years  ago,  which  illustrates  the 
strength  of  his  memory  for  facts  and  principles.  He  had 
argued  a  case  there,  and  got  a  verdict.  The  losing  party 
claimed  a  review,  and  the  case  was  tried  again  the  next 
year.  My  father  was  retained  to  argue  it  again  ;  but  some 
delay  occurred,  and  he  came  into  court  only  after  the  evi- 
dence was  in,  and  the  arguments  were  closed,  all  but  his  own, 
and  the  counsel  with  him  was  preparing  to  speak  for  him. 
He  said  to  my  father  at  once,  that  he  must  argue  the  case. 
"But  how  can  that  be?  I  know  nothing  of  the  evidence, 
or  of  the  points  or  questions  raised."  He  was  then  told 
that  they  were  substantially  the  same  as  they  were  the  year 
before ;  and  upon  this  statement,  and  trusting  to  his  mem- 
ory only,  he  argued  the  case  again,  and  again  obtained  a 
verdict. 

His  early  success  was  promoted  by  his  making  himself 
master  of  the  law  of  prize  and  admiralty,  of  which  few 
lawyers  then  knew  anything.  I  think  he  did  this  from  an 
intimation  from  Judge  Trowbridge,  that  this  bi'anch  of  busi- 
ness would  probably  be  made  profitable  by  the  events  of 
war.  In  fact,  he  had  almost  the  monopoly  of  it ;  and  it  was 
very  profitable.  I  infer,  from  all  I  can  learn  about  it,  that 
the  late  Governor  Sullivan,  Judge  Lowell,  and  my  father 
were  the  only  practising  lawyers  who  had  much  knowledge 
of  this  interesting  department  of  the  law.  They,  certainly, 


142  MEMOIR  OF 

were  masters  of  it.  My  mother  used  to  speak  of  the 
''prize  times,"  which  lasted  but  a  year  or  two  after  her 
marriage,  as  the  most  profitable,  in  her  view,  which  she  had 
ever  known.  The  clients  got  their  money  easily,  and  spent 
it  as  easily.  She  used  to  show  me,  in  my  boyhood,  a  chest 
or  box,  such,  I  suppose,  as  used  to  be  called  a  "  strong-box," 
which  served  in  my  day  only  as  a  tea-chest.  But  it  had 
a  lock  of  peculiar  strength,  and  I  think  was  intended  to 
hold  valuables.  At  all  events,  she  said  my  father  kept  it  in 
her  closet,  and  put  therein  bullion  or  coin  when  he  received 
it,  and  she  had  seen  it  nearly  full.  We  have  now  in  the 
family  a  dozen  heavy,  silver-gilt  spoons,  that  a  master  of  a 
privateer,  after  paying  my  father's  bill,  threw  into  her  lap 
as  she  sat  in  his  office,  —  which  was  always  in  his  house, 
and  occasionally  resorted  to  by  all  the  members  of  his  fam- 
ily,— "  because,"  said  the  sailor,  "  I  don't  think  the  squire 
has  charged  me  half  enough."  In  the  letters  I  put  in  the 
Appendix,  there  are  indications  that  our  privateers  were 
busy  and  successful.  My  father  used  to  speak  of  one  of 
his  clients  (a  merchant  in  Ncwburyport),  who  often  said,  "I 
have  prayed  to  the  Lord  to  make  me  rich,  and  I  believe  I 
have  prayed  too  hard,  for  I  think  he  means  to  droicn  me 
ont"  The  same  man  said,  at  my  father's  table,  "  If  I  threw 
a  shingle  in  the  water  as  the  tide  turned  out,  and  laid  a  dol- 
lar on  it,  I  believe  the  next  flood  tide  would  bring  it  back 
with  ten  more."  He  was  then  thought  to  be  exceedingly 
rich  ;  lint,  not  many  years  afterwards,  he  died  a  bankrupt. 

I  never  saw  my  father  in  court,  as  a  lawyer,  but  have 
heard  so  much  of  him,  that  I  have  a  well-defined  idea  of 
his  manner.  It  was  said  to  have  been  easy  and  familiar 
to  the  last  degree.  There  was  no  studied  beginning  nor 
ending,  nothing  of  the  manner,  or  the  tricks,  or  the  graces 
of  the  orator,  and  no  approach  to  them.  His  business  was 
to  persuade  those  twelve  men  of  the  truth  of  certain  propo- 
sitions ;  and  he  did  his  work  in  the  most  direct,  the  plain- 
est, and  the  simplest  way.  His  strength  undoubtedly  lay 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  143 

in  his  reasoning.  But  there  was  an  actual,  and  I  rather 
think  a  studied,  absence  of  all  appearance  of  eloquence,  and 
even  of  technical  logic. 

Chief  Justice  Isaac  Parker  often  spoke  of  the  first  case 
in  which  he  ever  saw  him,  and  heartily  would  he  laugh 
about  it,  Parker  was  living  in  Maine,  and  either  a  student, 
or  very  young  in  his  profession.  My  father,  then  also  a 
young  man,  had  been  sent  for  in  some  important  case.  He 
was  quite  unknown  to  all  persons  outside  the  bar,  and  not 
well  known  even  to  the  lawyers.  Parker  had  only  heard  of 
him  as  a  rising  man.  "When  his  turn  came  to  argue  the  case 
he  put  one  foot  in  his  chair,  and,  with  an  elbow  on  his  knee, 
leaned  over,  and  began  to  talk  about  the  case  as  a  man 
might  talk  to  his  neighbor  by  his  fireside.  "  Pretty  soon," 
said  Parker,  "  I  thought  I  understood  him.  He  was  winding 
that  jury  round  his  fingers.  He  made  no  show ;  he  treated 
the  case  as  if  it  were  a  simple  affair,  of  which  the  conclu- 
sion was  obvious  and  inevitable ;  and  he  did  not  talk  long. 
He  got  a  verdict  at  once  ;  and  after  the  jury  were  dismissed, 
one  of  them,  whom  I  happened  to  know,  came  to  rne  and 
said,  '  Who  is  this  Mr.  Parsons  ?  He  •  is  not  much  of  a 
lawyer,  and  don't  talk  or  look  as  if  he  would  ever  be  one  ; 
but  he  seems  to  be  a  real  good  sort  of  a  man' " 

Judge  Parker,  in  the  Address  to  the  Jury,  to  which  I 
have  often  referred,  and  must  refer  again,  says  :  "  At  that 
early  period  of  his  life,  his  most  formidable  rival  and  most 
frequent  competitor  was  the  late  Judge  Lowell,  whose  mem- 
ory is  still  cherished  with  affection  by  the  wise  and  virtuous 
of  our  State."  This  gentleman  died  in  1802,  at  the  age 
of  fifty-six.  I  could  not  have  known  him  personally ;  and 
before  I  was  old  enough  to  remember  much  of  Avhat  I 
heard,  he  had  ceased  to  be  spoken  of  frequently.  I  have 
learned  —  principally  from  books  —  that  he  was  a  Fed- 
eralist, and  an  active  and  influential  member  of  the  Con- 
vention of  Massachusetts  which  formed  the  Constitution 
of  that  State  ;  and  that  he  led  the  bar  of  the  State  for 


144:  MEMOIR  OF 

many  years.  In  1789,  he  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Dis- 
trict Court  of  the  United  States,  and  held  that  office  until 
1801,  when  he  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  First 
Circuit,  and  this  office  he  held  until  the  act  creating  the 
court  was  repealed,  in  1802.  So  evanescent  is  profes- 
sional reputation,  that  the  eminence  of  this  gentleman  is 
now  known  to  few  persons  who  are  not  connected  with  his 
family,  or  unusually  well  acquainted  Avith  the  early  history 
of  the  State. 

lie  left  three  sons.  The  second,  Francis  C.  Lowell,  was 
a  distinguished  merchant  and  manufacturer.  The  third, 
the  Rev.  Charles  Lowell,  now  lives  in  Cambridge,  one  of 
the  most  venerated  clergymen  of  the  Commonwealth,  for 
his  excellence  and  his  usefulness. 

The  eldest,  John  Lowell,  I  knew  well,  for  many  years ; 
and  he  was  certainly  among  the  most  remarkable  men  whom 
I  have  ever  known.  Born  in  1770,  he  was  twenty  years 
younger  than  my  father,  but  was  one  of  his  most  valued 
friends.  In  1804,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four,  he  left  his  pro- 
fession, and  never  resumed  it.  Under  the  pressure  of  a  very 
extensive  business,  his  health  broke  down.  He  told  me  that 
on  the  day  when  he  determined,  in  obedience  to  medical  ad- 
vice, or  rather  command,  to  give  up  all  attention  to  business, 
at  once  and  entirely,  he  had  ninety-three  cases  on  his  docket, 
marked  for  trial.  He  went  abroad,  and  there  his  health 
improved  ;  and  he  confirmed  it,  after  his  return  to  this 
country,  by  regular  labor  on  his  farm  in  Roxbury.  He 
suffered  little  more  from  ill-health  ;  but  perhaps  felt  that 
his  nervous  system  had  been  too  much  weakened  to  permit 
him  to  engage  again  with  safety  either  in  his  profession  or 
in  official  duty,  and  the  residue  of  his  life  was  passed  in 
retirement. 

He  was  a  retiring  man,  and  never  thrust  himself  into  em- 
ployment or  public  notice,  but  accepted  cheerfully  the  oppor- 
tunities of  usefulness  which  were  not  so  much  offered  as 
forced  upon  him  ;  for  he  had  no  avarice,  and  his  ambition 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  145 

was  satisfied.  But  it  was  impossible  that  his  extraordinary 
abilities  could  be  idle,  or  his  enthusiastic  energy  wholly 
suppressed.  He  wrote  often  for  the  newspapers,  and  was 
regarded  as  taking  Ames's  place  in  that  duty.  He  pub- 
lished, at  different  times,  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  pam- 
phlets, on  various  topics.  As  an  ardent  Federalist,  he 
exerted  great  influence  upon  the  politics  of  his  State.  A 
series  of  papers  which  he  wrote,  under  the  name  of  "  A 
Boston  Rebel,"  were  celebrated  then,  and  are  remembered 
now  by  many.  In  Harvard  College  his  interest  was  vivid 
and  constant,  and  he  was  a  Fellow  of  the  Corporation  for 
twelve  years.  He  was  among  the  founders  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital,  of  the  great  Insurance  Company 
connected  with  it,  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  and  of  the  first 
Savings  Bank  of  Boston.  He  was  also  one  of  the  Trus- 
tees of  the  Agricultural  Society,  and  a  most  skilful  practical 
farmer.  He  introduced  a  system  of  observation  and  careful 
recording  of  facts  in  relation  to  agriculture,  which  has  been 
followed  by  others,  (although  not  with  his  exact  accuracy,) 
and  has  proved  of  the  utmost  utility.  His  various  papers 
on  this  class  of  subjects,  under  his  favorite  signature  of  "  A 
Roxbury  Farmer,"  exerted  much  influence  in  his  own  day, 
and  are  frequently  quoted  now  in  magazines  and  papers  on 
the  culture  of  fields  and  gardens.  I  could  do  more  than 
assert  his  kindness  and  generosity,  if  I  were  at  liberty  to 
illustrate  his  warm  heart  and  open  hand  by  relating  in- 
stances in  which  they  were  manifested. 

But  I  return  to  my  father.  His  arguments  were  always 
very  brief.  I  have  heard  it  said,  that  he  never  exceeded  an 
hour ;  but  this,  I  think,  cannot  be  literally  true.  Usually 
he  was  much  less  than  an  hour ;  and  I  have  heard  from 
good  authority,  that  he  was  less  than  half  an  hour  oftener 
than  he  was  more. 

I  have  recently  been  told  an  anecdote  illustrative  of  this 
point,  on  the  authority  of  the  late  Mr.  Hoar  of  Concord ;  and 
10 


146  MEMOIR  OF 

higher  authority,  for  any  word  he  chose  to  say,  there  could 
not  be.  My  father  went  to  Concord  to  argue  a  very  impor- 
tant and  difficult  will  case.  Other  lawyers  spoke,  and  at 
length,  and  my  father  closed  on  his  side.  He  spoke  but 
thirty  minutes ;  but  his  argument  was  conclusive,  and  pre- 
vailed. 

It  has  often  been  said,  too,  that  he  never  used  a  brief, 
trusting  only  to  his  memory.  But  that  he  took  notes  of  the 
evidence  and  points  I  am  certain,  for  some  such  papers  I 
have  now  ;  and  to  these,  of  course,  he  could  refer  as  he 
wished.  I  suppose,  however,  that  he  seldom  prepared  in 
writing  full  notes  for  an  argument. 

I  should  have  said  he  was  not  eloquent,  and  could  not  be ; 
but  Chief  Justice  Parker  says :  "  Instances  may  be  recol- 
lected when,  in  causes  which  required  it,  he  has  assailed  the 
hearts  of  his  hearers  with  as  powerful  appeals  as  were  ever 
exhibited  in  the  cause  of  misfortune  or  humanity."  Still, 
I  do  not  believe  that  he  could  be  called  an  eloquent  man. 

He  was  exceedingly  fluent,  had  much  power  of  rich  and 
varied  expression ;  could  feel,  and  could  express  with  great 
force,  all  strong  emotions,  from  the  sacra  indignatio,  which 
a  great  orator  has  called  a  chief  weapon  of  eloquence,  to 
the  softer  feelings,  which  move  but  do  not  pain  ;  and  more- 
over, he  had  a  vivid  imagination,  and  in  conversation  made 
much  use  of  figure  and  illustration.  Why  was  he  no  orator  ? 
With  all  these  qualities,  perhaps  he  lacked  some  others,  and 
could  not  have  been  an  orator.  But  I  think  he  had  a  theory 
on  this  subject,  which,  if  it  grew  in  part  from  his  incapacity 
for  eloquence,  certainly  prevented  him  from  cultivating  what 
capacity  lie  may  have  had.  It  wa«,  as  I  believe,  his  opin- 
ion that  eloquence  is  a  great  hinderance  to  a  lawyer,  and 
of  no  great  value  anywhere. 

One  reason  for  this  opinion  was  probably  his  want  of  that 
love  of  admiration  and  applause  which  those  who  philoso- 
phize about  these  things  consider  a  principal  source  and 
stimulus  of  eloquence.  These  were  never  desired  by  him  ; 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  147 

and  indeed  he  sometimes  avoided  them  and  manifested  his 
disgust  for  them  in  a  rude  and  peremptory  Avay.  He  never 
came  before  the  public  at  any  time,  or  in  any  manner,  but 
from  necessity ;  and,  I  verily  believe,  went  through  all  his 
duty  of  that  kind  merely  as  duty,  looking  for  enjoyment  only 
to  home  and  close  retirement.  I  think  he  never  delivered 
an  oration,  or  an  address,  or  made  a  speech,  in  his  life,  ex- 
cepting in  court  or  in  a  legislative  body.  Whether  his  taste 
formed  his  opinions,  and  then  he  made  reasons  for  them,  I 
cannot  say ;  but  I  have  good  ground  for  believing  that  he 
thought,  that,  if  an  eloquent  lawyer  was  sometimes  eminently 
successful,  —  which  certainly  none  can  dispute,  —  it  was  by 
other  means  than  his  eloquence ;  and  that  he  who  had  no 
other  means  could  not  succeed.  He  would  admit,  that,  in 
one  action  in  a  hundred,  mere  eloquence  was  the  thing  that 
was  wanted ;  in  a  few  more,  it  was  very  well ;  but  in  the 
vast  majority  of  cases,  it  was  only  in  the  way.  He  who  has 
a  fame  for  eloquence,  or  who  shows  that  he  trusts  to  it, 
rouses  every  jury  at  once  against  him.  It  cannot  be  a 
favorable  thing  for  counsel,  when  a  juryman  says  to  himself, 
as  the  advocate  begins,  "  That  man  is  famous  for  making 
fools  of  people,  and  he  means  to  make  a  fool  of  me  too,  but 
I  think  he  won't."  And  my  father's  students  were  often 
advised,  that  no  young  lawyer  could  make  a  more  fatal  mis- 
take than  to  rely  with  so  much  confidence  upon  the  mere 
power  of  speech,  as  to  cultivate  it  at  the  expense  of  the 
learning,  industry,  and  habits  of  prompt  and  accurate  per- 
ception, which  any  man  of  good  intelligence  may  attain,  and 
which  make  success  certain.  That  there  was  much  founda- 
tion for  these  views,  I  have  no  doubt ;  but  that  he  carried 
them  to  an  extreme,  must  be  probable,  for  his  tastes  and 
habits,  and  the  whole  character  of  his  mind,  would  lead  him 
to  do  so.  Indeed,  he  was  altogether  a  despiser  of  eloquence, 
and  made  a  mistake  on  this  point.  It  may  be  true,  that, 
from  the  days  of  Moses  and  Aaron  to  our  own,  all  the  world 
over,  the  men  who  do  not  talk  govern  the  world,  and  make 


148  MEMOIR  OF 

use  of  the  men  who  do.  But  it  is  true,  notwithstanding, 
that  eloquence  is  a  great  power.  I  may  mention,  as  per- 
haps falling  in  with  his  notion,  that  silent  and  retired  men 
are  often  most  influential  and  useful ;  —  that,  of  all  the  great 
men  of  Rome,  my  father  most  admired  Atticus,  the  quiet, 
withdrawn,  almost  unknown  friend  of  Cicero  and  Horten- 
sitis,  Caesar,  Pompey,  and  Brutus,  Anthony  and  Octavius. 
I  have  heard  him  give  reasons,  derived  from  a  thorough 
investigation  of  all  that  is  said  of  Atticus,  for  believing  that 
he  exerted,  from  his  distant  home  in  Athens,  or  his  retire- 
ment in  Rome,  a  powerful  influence ;  and  have  some  im- 
pression that  he  once  threw  these  reasons  on  paper.  But 
I  have  not  seen  such  a  paper  for  many  years,  if  ever,  and 
remember  nothing  of  its  details,  nor  even  its  general  char- 
acter, with  any  distinctness. 

Mr.  Webster  Avrote  a  notice  of  my  father,  in  his  journal 
written  in  1804,  when  he  was  a  student  of  law  in  Boston; 
and  his  description  is  as  follows  : 

Thcophilus  Parsons  is  now  about  fifty-five  years  old  ;  of  rather 
largo  stature,  and  inclining  a  little  to  corpulency.  His  hair  is 
brown,  and  his  complexion  not  light.  His  face  is  not  marked 
by  any  striking  feature,  if  we  except  his  eyes.  His  forehead 
is  low,  and  his  eyebrows  prominent.  lie  wears  a  blue  coat  and 
breeches,  worsted  hose,  a  brown  wig,  with  a  cocked  hat.  He  has 
a  penetrating  eye,  of  an  indescribable  color.  AYhen,  couched 
under  a  jutting  eyebrow,  it  directs  its  beams  into  the  face  of 
a  witness,  he  feels  as  if  it  looked  into  the  inmost  recesses  of  his 
soul. 

When  Parsons  intends  to  make  a  learned  observation,  his  eye- 
brow sinks;  when  a  smart  one,  —  for  he  is,  and  wishes  to  be 
thought,  a  wit,  —  it  rises.  The  characteristic  endowments  of  his 
mind  are  strength  and  shrewdness.  Strength,  which  enables  him 
to  support  his  canst1 ;  shrewdness,  by  which  he  is  always  ready  to 
retort  the  sallies  of  his  adversary.  His  manner  is  steady,  forcible, 
and  perfectly  perspicuous.  lie  does  not  address  the  jury  as  a 
mechanical  body  to  be  put  in  motion  by  mechanical  means.  He 
appeals  to  them  as  men,  and  as  having  minds  capable  of  receiv- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  149 

ing  the  ideas  in  his  own.  Of  course,  be  never  harangues.  He 
is  never  stinted  to  say  just  so  much  on  a  point,  and  no  more.  He 
knows  by  the  juror's  countenance,  when  he  is  convinced  ;  and 
therefore  never  disgusts  him  by  arguing  that  of  which  he  is 
already  sensible,  and  which  he  knows  it  is  impossible  more  fully 
to  impress.  A  mind  thus  strong,  direct,  prompt,  and  vigorous,  is 
cultivated  by  habits  of  the  most  intense  application.  A  great 
scholar  in  everything,  in  his  profession  he  is  peculiarly  great. 
He  is  not  content  with  shining  on  occasions ;  he  will  shine  every- 
where. As  no  cause  is  too  great,  none  is  too  small  for  him.  He 
knows  the  great  benefit  of  understanding  small  circumstances. 
It  is  not  enough  for  him  that  he  has  learned  the  leading  points  in 
a  cause  ;  he  will  know  everything.  His  argument  is,  therefore, 
always  consistent  with  itself;  and  its  course  so  luminous,  that 
you  are  ready  to  wonder  why  any  one  should  hesitate  to  follow 
him.  Facts  which  are  uncertain,  he  with  so  much  art  connects 
with  others  well  proved,  that  you  cannot  get  rid  of  the  former 
without  disregarding  the  latter.  He  has  no  fondness  for  public 
life,  and  is  satisfied  with  standing  where  he  is,  at  the  head  of  his 
profession. 

There  are  some  mistakes  in  this  description.  His  hair 
was  never  brown ;  but  in  early  life  it  was  dark,  and  when 
Mr.  Webster  knew  him,  what  he  had  was  gray.  But  he 
wore  a  browai  wig.  The  portrait  I  have  of  him,  which  was 
painted  when  he  was  thirty  years  old,  and  wore  no  Avig, 
but  was  already  quite  bald,  shows  that  his  forehead  was 
remarkably  high.  But  his  wig  came  down  near  to  his 
eyes,  and  gave  the  impression  that  his  forehead  was  low. 

Mr.  Webster  says  :  "  lie  was,  and  liked  to  be  thought, 
a  wit."  I  suppose  this  is  altogether  true.  But  what  I 
remember  of  my  father  is  not  his  wit,  but  his  fun.  If 
ever  any  man  loved  fun  and  frolic,  he  did.  He  laughed 
easily  and  heartily,  although  often  with  his  mouth  shut  and 
silently  ;  he  loved  to  laugh  and  to  make  others  laugh,  and 
knew  how  to  do  it.  He  was  not,  I  believe,  disposed  to  be 
sarcastic  or  bitter.  Some  stories  indicating  the  capacity  to 
sting  I  have  heard,  but  I  have  no  personal  recollection  of 


150  MEMOIR   OF 

anything  of  the  kind.  Nothing,  however,  do  I  remember 
better  than  the  hours  of  chat  and  laughter,  —  the  very  many 
such  hours,  —  the  gay  dinners,  the  simple  but  festive  sup- 
pers, which,  as  they  come  now  before  my  recollection,  seem 
to  me  full  of  unrestrained  frolic.  The  fashion  in  that  day 
was  more  tolerant  of  anecdote  and  fun  of  all  kinds,  in  con- 
versation and  at  all  time?,  than  it  is  now.  Innumerable  are 
the  stones  which  have  come  to  me  of  my  father's  sayings 
and  doings  in  the  way  of  jest,  in  all  the  periods  of  his  life. 
Many  of  them  are  now  stock  stories,  which  run  through  the 
papers  periodically,  and  are  sometimes  applied  to  him,  and 
sometimes  to  others. 

It  would  do  no  good  to  try  to  tell  these  stories  ;  they 
could  only  be  understood  or  appreciated  with  their  acces- 
sories, and  these  I  cannot  always  give.  They  were  but  bub- 
bles of  the  moment,  but  they  helped  to  make  the  moment 
cheerful.  I  think  his  gayety  of  temper  was  of  vast  advan- 
tage to  him.  It  was  of  some  little  value  as  a  weapon  of 
offence  or  defence.  lie  could  turn  into  a  laugh  what  might 
have  become  a  quarrel,  and  his  ready  answer,  witty  or  only 
funny,  as  the  case  might  be,  sometimes  subdued  an  opponent 
and  sometimes  suppressed  his  opposition.  The  bar  and  the 
court  were  on  a  different  footing  in  some  respects  from  that 
which  now  prevails.  There  was  as  much,  and  perhaps 
more,  reverence  and  respect  for  official  or  personal  rights  ; 
but  it  was  then  felt  to  be  safer  to  permit  freedoms,  than 
now.  I  could  fill  many  pages  with  stories  illustrative  of 
this  case,  not  to  say  license,  of  manner.  One  I  tell,  partly 
because;  it  happens  to  occur  to  me  as  I  write,  and  partly 
because  I  had  it  from  the  best  authority.  James  Sullivan, 
afterwards  (lovcrnor  of  this  State,  was  opposed  to  my 
father  in  a  case,  and  there  was  some  little  war  of  words,  in 
which  my  father  for  that  time  got  the  better  ;  which,  by 
the  way,  did  not  always  happen,  for  Sullivan  was  an  able 
man,  and  very  ready.  Soon  after,  as  my  father  was  argu- 
ing to  the  jury,  Mr.  Sullivan  espied  a  bit  of  chalk  lying 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  151 

on  the  table,  and  took  up  his  opponent's  broad-brimmed 
black  hat  and  wrote  upon  it,  "  This  is  the  hat  of  a  damned 
rascal,"  and  laid  it  down  again,  after  showing  it  to  the  bar. 
There  Avas  some  smiling,  —  perhaps  audible  smiling,  —  for 
my  father  turned  round,  and  as  his  eye  fell  on  the  hat,  he 
read  the  words.  He  instantly  stopped  in  his  argument, 
and  turning  to  the  court,  and  exhibiting  the  hat,  said : 
"  May  it  please  your  honor,  I  crave  the  protection  of  the 
court.  Brother  Sullivan  has  been  stealing  my  hat  and 
writing  his  own  name  on  it." 

Another  anecdote,  illustrative  of  the  convenience  to  my 
father  of  his  ready  wit,  has  been  told  to  me  a  hundred 
times  ;  and  I  have  sometimes  seen  it  attributed  to  others, 
and  told  with  some  diversity  of  form.  I  tell  it  substan- 
tially as  it  was  written  for  me  by  the  Hon.  Charles  P. 
Phclps  of  Hadley. 

"  Your  father  had  been  at  Hartford  on  business,  towards 
the  end  of  winter.  He  got  through  on  Saturday  night ; 
and  as  there  were  signs  that  winter  was  breaking  up,  and 
he  was  in  a  close  carriage  on  runners,  there  was  danger  in 
delay,  and  he  prepared  to  leave  on  Sunday.  The  inn- 
keeper told  him  he  would  certainly  be  arrested  ;  but  a 
storm  had  set  in,  and  he  concluded  to  take  his  chance,  and 
began  the  journey.  After  going  a  few  miles,  the  '  tithing- 
man,'  as  the  officer  charged  with  this  duty  was  called,  came 
up  and  ordered  him  to  stop.  Your  father  asked  his  author- 
ity, &c.,  and,  being  satisfied  on  those  points,  said  he  should 
certainly  obey  the  law,  and  stop  ;  and  directed  his  driver  to 
draw  up  to  one  side  of  the  road,  fasten  the  reins  where 
he  could  reach  them  from  within,  and  come  inside.  The 
tithingman  inquired  Avhat  all  this  meant.  '  It  means,'  said 
he,  '  that  the  law  authorizes  you  to  stop  me,  and  you  have 
stopped  me,  and  here  I  intend  to  stop.'  '  But  I  want  you 
to  turn  back  with  me.'  '  Perhaps  so ;  but  I  prefer  to  do 
what  the  law  requires.  You  say  that  you  have  authority  to 
stop  me.  Very  well,  you  have  stopped  me,  and  I  submit ; 


152  MEMOIR  OF 

and  now  I  shall  stop  where  I  am  as  long  as  I  see  fit.'  After 
a  little  further  controversy,  the  officer  concluded  to  return, 
muttering,  '  I  might  have  known  I  should  never  catch  you,' 
and  thus  satisfying  your  father  of  what  he  had  suspected,  — 
that  the  man  had  been  sent  out  purposely  to  '  catch  him,'  as 
a  signal  application  of  the  law.  After  a  certain  time,  your 
father  rode  on,  and  soon  passed  beyond  the  bounds  of  Con- 
necticut." 

A  part  of  my  father's  universal  readiness,  and  of  his 
great  facility  and  abundant  resources  in  technical  cases, 
arose  from  the  extent  and  variety  of  his  knowledge,  and  a 
part  from  his  careful  preparation  of  his  cases.  lie  had  also 
a  great  deal  of  mechanical  talent ;  or,  rather,  he  had  that 
love  for  practical  mechanics  from  which  one  is  apt  to  infer 
talent. 

While  writing  this  sheet,  a  friend  sent  to  me  this  para- 
graph, cut  from  a  newspaper. 

"  The  late  Chief  Justice  Parsons,  when  on  a  circuit,  met 
with  an  accident  to  his  carriage,  and  stopped  at  a  black- 
smith's to  have  some  iron-work  repaired,  and  then  went  to 
a  carriage-maker's  and  conversed  with  him  as  to  the  neces- 
sary wood-work,  and  then  to  a  painter's,  and  directed  him 
how  to  prepare  his  paints  so  that  they  should  dry  at  once. 
After  he  went  on,  those  mechanics  conferred  together. 
Said  the  first, (  That  man  rides  in  his  carriage  now,  but  I 
am  sure  he  was  a  blacksmith  once.'  'No,'  said  the  car- 
riage-maker, 'but  he  lias  been  a  worker  in  wood.'  'I  think 
not,'  said  the  painter,  '  for  I  am  sure  he  has  learnt  my 
trade.' " 

It  need  not  be  said  that  this  story  is  impossible.  Such  an- 
ecdotes, indeed,  are  common  enough  about  all  distinguished 
men.  In  my  father's  case,  it  may  have  had  so  much  foun- 
dation as  that  one  or  another  person  engaged  in  some 
mechanical  employment  may  have  expressed  his  surprise  at 
my  father's  acquaintance  with  his  own  specialty,  but  I 
think  nothing  more. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  153 

He  always  had  a  variety  of  tools,  and  always  kept  them 
in  excellent  order,  and  was  ready  to  use  them  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  his  children  at  any  time.  My  bows  and  arrows, 
and  skilfully  contrived  rabbit-hutches,  were  the  envy  of  my 
playmates ;  and  he  seemed  to  take  just  as  much  interest  in 
them  as  I  did.  I  have  now  the  remains  of  a  set  of  models 
made  by  him,  of  mahogany,  to  illustrate  the  problems  of 
conic  sections.  Beside  this  taste  for  mechanics,  his  univer- 
sal and  insatiable  thirst  for  knowledge  made  him  desire  to 
understand  everything  he  saw,  and  to  learn  from  every  one 
in  whose  company  he  found  himself  whatever  could  be 
learned  from  him.  One  remark  on  this  subject  I  have 
heard  him  make  so  often,  that  it  is  most  distinctly  impressed 
upon  my  memory.  It  was  in  substance  this :  that  many 
persons  wondered  at  his  studying  all  sorts  of  things,  and 
supposed  this  diversity  of  pursuits  must  interfere  with  his 
profession ;  the  contrary,  however,  was  true ;  for  there  was 
scarcely  anything  which  he  had  learned,  particularly  if  it 
were  of  a  scientific  character,  which  he  did  not  find,  at 
some  time,  or  in  some  way,  useful  to  him  as  a  lawyer  or  as  a 
judge.  The  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  me  from  the 
Hon.  C.  P.  Phelps,  to  whom  I  have  already  referred,  may 
have  some  interest.  He  says :  "  A  striking  peculiarity  in 
your  father,  as  an  advocate,  was  the  wonderful  knowledge 
he  exhibited  of  the  details  and  minutiae  of  whatever  art  or 
science  was  especially  involved  in  the  causes  which  he  man- 
aged, and  his  perfect  familiarity  with  all  the  technical  phra- 
seology belonging  to  the  subject.  His  hearers  could  hardly 
avoid  the  conclusion,  that  he  must  have  been  at  some  time  a 
practical  mechanic  or  operator  in  the  art  or  science  the 
principles  of  which  he  was  so  aptly  and  skilfully  describing 
and  explaining.  Thus,  when  arguing  a  cause  involving  the 
principles  of  naval  architecture,  or  of  practical  navigation  or 
seamanship,  the  jury  would  have  felt  satisfied  that  he  had 
not  only  had  the  experience  of  a  master  shipwright,  but  that 
he  must  have  been  at  sea,  and  acted  there  as  a  sailor.  At 


154  MEMOIR  OF 

any  rate,  he  never  failed  to  convince  both  judge  and  jury 
that  he  was  a  perfect  master  of  the  subject  in  hand.  In  this 
peculiarity  I  never  saw  his  equal  at  the  bar." 

Let  me  add,  that  Mr.  Phelps  was  my  near  connection  by 
marriage,  studied  law  with  my  father,  and  always  main- 
tained the  most  intimate  relations  with  him.  Soon  after 
writing  me  these  letters,  he  closed,  with  peace  and  hope,  a 
long  life  of  unsullied  purity  and  worth. 

In  his  ordinary  practice,  my  father  did  not  greatly  inter- 
est himself  in  his  cases.  I  mean,  that  he  did  not  identify 
himself  with  his  clients,  and  feel  as  if  he  were  personally 
concerned  in  the  case.  In  his  time,  it  was  usual  for  eminent 
lawyers  to  traverse  the  State,  including  the  then  Province 
of  Maine,  and  to  go  with  the  Supreme  Court  wherever  its 
terms  were  held.  He  therefore  saw  his  clients  and  his  cases 
in  the  country,  for  the  most  part,  only  just  before,  trial,  and 
after  all  preparation  had  been  made.  And  he  was  so  much 
and  so  often  absent  from  Boston,  that  the  same  thing  was 
true  to  a  considerable  extent  there  also.  Indeed,  the  prac- 
tice of  our  profession  was,  even  in  my  own  early  recollec- 
tion, more  as  it  is  in  England,  where  attorneys  prepare  all 
the  cases  for  trial,  and  have  all  or  nearly  all  the  personal 
intercourse  with  the  client,  and  barristers  argue  their  cases 
from  the  briefs  which  the  attorneys  furnish  them.  Formerlv 
the  distinction  between  these  grades  of  the  profession  was 
quite  distinctly  recognized.  After  three  years'  study,  a  .stu- 
dent was  admitted  as  attorney  at  law  ;  after  two  years  more, 
as  counsellor;  and  after  two  years  more,  as  barrister ;  and 
only  tho-e  who  had  attained  this  elevation  argued  cases  in 
the  Supreme  Court.  The  barrister  wore  a  black  gown  of 
sonic  woollen  stuff,  and  a  bag-wig;  and  though  my  father, 
who  first  put  his  on  about  1778,  soon  after  discontinued  the 
use  of  them,  I  remember  them  perfectly,  as  they  were  care- 
fully preserved  by  my  mother,  and  occasionally  exhibited  to 
the  children. 

The  effect  of  the  personal  intercourse  between  client  and 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  155 

counsel,  which  is  now  much  more  common,  at  least  in  New 
England,  makes  the  practice  of  the  profession  more  bur- 
densome, and  its  labors  more  continuous  and  harassing. 

f  O 

But  it  tends  strongly  to  identify  the  client  and  his  lawyer. 
I  have  no  doubt  he  argued  his  cases  with  as  much  zeal  as 
any  one ;  and  I  have  heard  many  things  which  would  lead 
to  the  belief  that  he  was  sometimes,  though  not  generally, 
very  earnest  and  impetuous.  But  when,  after  he  was  on 
the  bench,  some  one,  complimenting  him  on  his  success  as 
an  advocate,  uttered  the  absurdity,  "  I  have  heard  it  said, 
Sir,  that  you  never  lost  a  case.  Can  that  be  literally  true  ?  " 
"  It  is,  Sir,"  said  he ;  "  I  assure  you  that  it  is  literally  and 
precisely  true.  I  never  lost  a  case  in  my  life  ;  and  the  rea- 
son I  suppose  is,  I  never  had  one.  My  clients  have  lost  a 
great  many ;  but  their  cases  ivere  not  mine."  Sir  Walter 
Scott  says,  that  no  lawyer  ever  lost  his  dinner  or  his  sleep 
from  anxiety  about  his  client's  case.  This  may  be  true  in 
England  or  Scotland,  but  is  certainly  not  true  with  us.  The 
late  William  Prescott  often  said  to  me,  while  I  was  studying 
law  with  him,  that  it  Avas  seldom  that  the  anxiety  of  pre- 
paring the  case,  or  even  of  trying  it,  destroyed  his  sleep ; 
but  it  sometimes  happened  that  the  next  night  after  the  case 
was  finished  was  passed  without  a  moment's  sleep.  "  I  have 
always  found,"  said  he,  "  that  the  waves  run  highest  after 
the  wind  has  ceased  to  blow." 

I  should  be  glad  to  say  something  of  the  position  con- 
ceded to  my  father  by  the  lawyers  of  his  day ;  but  I  find  it 
difficult  to  do  this.  It  would  be  easy  to  state  that  he  was 
older  than  most  of  the  distinguished  men  with  whom  he 
practised,  and  had  devoted  much  more  time  and  systematic 
labor  to  the  study  of  the  law,  and  very  steadily  refused  to 
permit  politics  or  office  to  draw  him  away ;  and  that  it 
would  follow,  almost  necessarily,  that  they  would  recognize 
in  him  a  certain  measure  of  superiority.  But  it  would  be 
just  as  easy,  and  altogether  reasonable,  to  reply  to  me,  that 
I  am  the  worst  possible  judge  of  this  matter ;  not  only  be- 


156  MEMOIR  OF 

cause  my  own  feelings  must  influence  my  opinion,  but 
because  my  relation  to  him  necessarily  shuts  out  from  me 
nearly  all  unfavorable  or  disqualifying  facts  or  opinions.  If 
they  get  into  print,  I  can  read  them,  like  anybody  else  ;  but 
who  will  tell  them  to  me  ?  That  I  have  never  heard  any- 
thing of  the  kind,  goes  for  nothing ;  and  that  I  have  not 
seen  it  in  print,  is  worth  little  more.  I  might  quote  strong 
language  on  this  point.  Thus  Story,  in  a  lecture  to  the 
Cambridge  Law  School,  which  I  give  in  the  Appendix, 
speaks  of  his  "  wonderful  wisdom  and  vigor  of  mind,"  and 
says  <-  he  had  no  equal,"  and  was  "  a  head  and  shoulders 
taller  than  any  other  man  in  the  whole  State."  And  Chief 
Justice  Parker  says :  "  Twenty-six  years  ago,  when  I  with 
others  of  my  age  were  pupils  in  the  profession  of  the  law, 
we  saw  our  masters  call  this  man  into  their  councils,  and 
yield  implicit  confidence  to  his  opinions.  Among  men  emi- 
nent themselves,  and  by  many  years  his  seniors,  we  saw  him 

by  common  consent  take  the  lead I  do  not  disparage 

others  by  placing  him  at  their  head.    They  were  great  men  ; 

he  was  a  wonderful  man His  enemies  designated  him 

by  an  appellation  which,  from  its  appropriateness,  became 

a  just  compliment,  —  the  Giant  of  the  Law He  was 

regarded  by  those  lawyers  with  whom  I  have  been  conver- 
sant, as  the  living  oracle  of  the  law.  His  transmitted  opin- 
ions carried  with  them  authority  sufficient  to  settle  contro- 
versies and  terminate  litigation."  After  all  due  allowance 
for  eulogistic  language,  such  words  from  such  men  must 
still  have  some  significance. 

Every  child  is  apt  to  think  his  father  rather  a  remarkable 
man,  —  for  he  is  so  to  him,  —  and  must  greatly  exaggerate 
any  remarkable-ness  which  may  exist.  I  would  avoid  this 
almost  inevitable  mistake  as  far  as  I  can,  and  will  let  the 
following  letter  speak  on  this  topic  for  me.  It  is  one  of  the 
many  ordinary  business  letters  I  have ;  but  it  comes  from 
no  ordinary  man,  and  the  fact  may  have,  some  little  value, 
at  least  to  lawyers,  that  such  a  man  as  Samuel  Dexter,  in 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  157 

the  fulness  of  his  strength,  for  himself  and  for  his  client, 
insists  that  my  father  must  begin  and  give  direction  to  a 
case,  because  he  could  not. 

Charlestown,  1st  April,  1797. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  once  mentioned  to  you  that  Clark  and  Nightingale,  of  Provi- 
dence, were  desirous  of  engaging  you  in  an  action  to  be  brought 
by  them  against  Samuel  W.  Pomeroy  and  others.  The  action  has 
not  yet  been  instituted,  but  Mr.  Clark  called  on  me  yesterday, 
and  requested  that  it  might  be  brought  for  Suffolk  Common 
Pleas,  and  that  I  would  again  mention  it  to  you.  It  is  not  prob- 
able that  I  shall  attend  the  trial,  though  he  would  not  release  me 
on  telling  him  so,  and  therefore  I  wish  you  to  shape  the  declara- 
tion. I  wish  it  for  another  reason  :  I  am  utterly  at  a  loss  how  to 
try  it.  The  facts  are  these  :  Pomeroy  et  al.,  by  their  agent,  Wil- 
liam Allen,  exchanged  with  Clark  et  al.  certain  North  and  South 
Carolina  State  notes  for  Loan-Office  certificates ;  and  under  a 
schedule  of  the  State  notes  Allen  wrote  :  "  Providence,  July  31st, 
1790.  This  certifies  that  I,  the  subscriber,  exchanged  the  above 
certificates  with  Clark  and  Nightingale,  and  warranted  them  all 
true  and  good,  and  promise  to  exchange  any  of  them  if  they 
prove  counterfeit."  His  principals  approved  of  this  expressly. 
Some  of  the  State  notes  were  fraudulently  issued  by  the  commis- 
sioners, though  really  signed  by  persons  having  authority  to  issue 
notes  for  bonafide  debts,  and  the  Legislature  of  the  State  has  de- 
clared them  void,  and  refuses  payment.  I  shall  leave  the  matter 
with  W.  B.  Adams,  who  is  with  me  in  the  office,  and  he  will  wait 
until  he  receives  a  form  of  a  declaration  from  you.  I  think  you 
had  better  file  the  writ  and  take  the  sole  care  of  the  action ;  but 
Clark  seems  to  want  me  not  to  be  off,  though  it  is  not  at  all  prob- 
able I  shall  be  here. 

I  am,  Sir,  with  great  esteem, 

Your  obedient  friend, 

SAMUEL  DEXTER,  JR. 

Charlestown,  22d  April,  1797. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  am  provoked  that  we  had  not  the  intended  conversation  at 
Concord.  The  letter  which  I  handed  you  there  from  myself  con- 
tains a  statement  of  the  demand  of  Clark  and  Nightingale.  Pray 

O  c  •/ 


158  MEMOIR   OF 

write  me  how  you  think  the  action  should  be  brought,  for  I  never 
will  bring  it  without  your  opinion.  Moreover,  it  is  their  wish  that 
you  should  direct  as  to  the  mode  of  declaring.  2d.  Pray  write 
me  what  you  can  do  for  Jos.  Stacey  Head,  and  on  what  terms  I 
can  engage  you  to  go  through  with  the  business  for  him.  3d. 
Capt.  Swain  is  here  from  Nantucket,  and  says  a  general  engage- 
ment is  expected  at  Barnstable  Supreme  Court ;  that  the  direc- 
tors of  the  bank  have  written  to  you,  but  that  I  must  write  you 
lest  that  should  fail.  I  beseech  you  to  send  me  an  answer  on  the 

above  three  subjects. 

Yours  truly, 

SAMUEL  DEXTER,  JR. 

My  father  was  generally  unwilling  to  engage  in  criminal 
cases.  He  once  successfully  defended  some  persons  accused 
of  piracy,  through  a  long  and  difficult  trial,  and  its  effect 
upon  him  made  him  avoid  such  things  ever  afterwards. 

Of  any  special  cases  which  he  engaged  in,  I  have 
very  little  to  say.  Perhaps  the  following,  to  which  I  have 
already  alluded,  interested  him  as  much  as  any,  though  not 
for  the  case  itself,  but  for  one  incident  of  it.  The  State  of 
Connecticut  had  granted  to  Halsey  and  others  certain  lands 
lying  on  the  borders  of  that  State  and  New  York,  in  con- 
sideration of  their  agreement  to  finish  the  State-House  in 
Hartford.  A  suit  was  soon  after  brought  to  determine  the 
title  to  these  lands,  and  it  was  tried  before  Chief  Justice 
Ellsworth,  in  September,  1797.  The  actual  parties  were 
New  York  and  Connecticut.  New  York  had  for  counsel, 
Hosmer,  Hoffman,  and  Aaron  Burr  ;  Connecticut  had  re- 
tained an  equal  number  ;  and  then  New  York  added  Ham- 
ilton, and  Connecticut  added  my  father.  The  case  was 
not  reached  upon  its  merits,  but  after  much  argument  went 
off  upon  a  collateral  question.  I  have  already  alluded  to 
one  anecdote  connected  with  this  case,  as  told  to  me  by  Mr. 
"Wells,  for  its  illustration  of  my  father's  method  of  study. 

Judge  Thomas  S.  "Williams,  now  living  in  venerated  old 
age  in  Hartford,  was  then  a  student  at  law  in  Litchfield, 
and  was  a  part  of  the  time  present  in  court.  In  a  letter 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  159 

addressed  to  a  valued  friend,  who  at  my  request  wrote  to 
him  for  an  account  of  this  case,  he  states  the  facts  I  have 
above  narrated,  saying,  however,  that  he  has  "  but  a  very 
general  knowledge  of  what  occurred."  He  adds :  "  Now 
the  lips  of  all  engaged  in  the  trial  are  sealed  in  death,  and 
I  doubt  whether  there  remains  alive  one  intelligent  man 
who  was  present  throughout  the  trial.  I  am  confident  that 
no  professional  man  survives."  In  another  part  of  this 
letter  he  says :  "  The  first  I  recollect  hearing  of  Mr.  Par- 
sons, who  was  then  a  practising  lawyer,  was  after  the  return 
of  Chief  Justice  Ellsworth  from  Massachusetts,  where  I  sup- 
pose he  had  held  a  Circuit  Court.  I  was  told  that  he  said 
he  found  Mr.  Parsons  a  complete  magazine  of  learning." 

On  the  trial,  Judge  Ellsworth  treated  my  father  some- 
what as  he  himself  was  charged  with  treating  others  after 
he  was  on  the  bench.  Upon  some  objections  being  offered 
to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court,  Judge  Ellsworth  stopped 
him  with,  "  This  court,  Sir,  will  take  care  of  its  own  juris- 
diction." An  answer  whereof  my  father  complained,  in 
somewhat  the  same  way  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter 
that  others  afterwards  complained  of  him. 

The  Hon.  Zachariah  Eddy,  now  of  East  Middleborough, 
was  good  enough  to  reply  to  a  similar  letter.  He  also  was 
a  student  at  Litchfield  in  1800,  and  it  seems  that  the  case 
was  then  freshly  remembered.  He  says  :  "  I  heard  the  law- 
yers speak  of  a  case  in  which  Parsons  met  Hamilton  and 
the  New  York  lawyers,  (I  think  before  Judge  Ellsworth,) 
in  which  he  astonished  Hamilton  by  his  legal  knowledge, 
and  especially  by  his  skill  in  special  pleading.  I  cannot 
state  any  occurrence  with  exactness,  but  he  was  then  con- 
sidered by  the  lawyers  there  as  the  very  first  of  the  pro- 
fession in  New  England." 

I  remember  hearing  of  a  retort  of  Hamilton's  in  the 
argument  before  the  court,  which  passed  into  a  sort  of 
proverb.  In  replying  to  some  nice  distinctions  my  father 
was  trying  to  make,  he  said :  "  May  it  please  your  Honor, 


1GO  MEMOIR  OF 

I  have  known  gentlemen  to  split  a  hair,  and  I  may  have 
tried  to  do  it  myself.  But  I  never  before  saw  any  one 
decimate  a  hair  and  count  the  pieces  before  the  court.'' 

Hamilton  and  my  father  always  had  a  great  regard  for 
each  other.  They  then  were  together  as  much  of  the  time 
as  they  could  so  spend,  and  afterwards  corresponded.  How- 
ever conservative  Hamilton  may  have  been,  he  found  my 
father  almost,  if  not  quite,  as  much  so. 

I  find  it  difficult  to  select  particular  cases  from  the  multi- 
tude in  which  he  was  engaged,  and  exhibit  them  as  the 
most  interesting.  I  could  name  very  many,  which  were 
lions  in  their  day  ;  but  they  seem  to  me  all  the  same  thing 
now,  and  no  great  thing  either.  Perhaps  among  those 
which  were  most  interesting  in  their  time,  and  which  in- 
volved points  that  would  be  equally  interesting  now,  had 
they  not  ceased  to  be  questions,  is  one  in  which  he  was 
retained  in  defence  of  the  parish  in  Gloucester,  or  the 
minister  of  that  parish,  against  the  Rev.  Mr.  Murray,  who 
more  than  any  other  person  introduced  the  doctrines  of 
Universalism  into  this  country.  In  1782,  he  had  gathered 
a  small  society  in  Gloucester,  formed  in  great  part  of  the 
most  respectable  citizens  of  the  town.  They  declined  pay- 
ing their  tuxes  to  the  established  minister  of  the  place  ; 
and  an  action  was  brought  to  determine  whether  they  were 
under  any  obligation  to  do  so.  Many  counsel  were  engaged 
at  dim-rent  times,  and  there  were  many  trials.  But  the 
principal  counsel  for  Mr.  Murray  were  Sullivan  and  Tudor, 
and  for  the  defendants,  Bradbury  and  my  father.  In  1785, 
a  trial  before  a  jury  took  place.  The  defendants  relied 
upon  certain  clauses  in  the  Declaration  of  Rights,  which 
forms  a  part  of  our  State  Constitution.  The  third  article 
provides  that  the  Legislature  may  "require  the  several 
towns,  parishes,  precincts,  and  other  bodies  politic,  or  re- 
ligious societies,  to  make  suitable  provision,  at  their  own 
expense,  for  the  public  worship  of  God,  and  for  the  support 
and  maintenance  of  public  Protestant  teachers  of  piety, 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  id 

religion,  and  morality Provided,  however,  that  the 

several  towns,  parishes,  precincts,  and  other  bodies  politic, 
or  religious  societies,  shall  at  all  times  have  the  exclusive 
right  of  electing  their  public  teachers,  and  of  contracting 

with  them  for  their  support  and  maintenance And 

all  moneys  paid  by  the  subject  for  the  support  of  public 
worship  and  of  the  public  teachers  aforesaid,  shall,  if  he 
require  it,  be  uniformly  applied  to  the  support  of  the  public 
teacher  or  teachers  of  his  own  religious  sect  or  denom- 
ination, provided  there  be  any  on  whose  instructions  he 
attends.  Otherwise,  it  may  be  paid  towards  the  support  of 
the  teacher  or  teachers  of  the  parish  or  precinct  in  which 
the  said  moneys  are  raised." 

The  plaintiffs  denied  that  Mr.  Murray's  society  was  a 
religious  society  within  the  meaning  of  the  Constitution, 
and  also  asserted  that  Mr.  Murray  could  not  be  considered 
as  "  a  teacher  of  piety,  religion,  and  morality."  This  last 
question  seems  to  have  been  that  which  was  submitted  to 
the  jury ;  and  they  rendered  a  verdict  in  Mr.  Murray's 
favor,  against  the  undisguised  opinion  of  the  court,  which 
consisted  of  Dana,  Sewall,  and  Sumner.  A  review  was 
granted,  and  the  case  was  tried  the  next  year ;  and  tradi- 
tion says  that  Sullivan  made  an  extraordinary  and  most 
successful  effort,  —  so  successful  as  to  have  changed  the 
opinion  of  the  court,  and  especially  of  Judge  Dana.  He 
charged  the  jury  that  the  clauses  in  the  Declaration  of 
Eights  were  liberal  in  their  purpose,  and  should  be  liberal 
in  their  effect,  and  that  their  influence  was  not  to  be  im- 
paired or  obstructed  by  a  narrow  construction ;  that  Mr. 
Murray's  society  Avas  organized  and  formed  as  they  thought 
fit,  and  this  was  enough  ;  that  it  existed  for  a  religious  pur- 
pose, and  that  the  previous  verdict  of  the  jury  had  deter- 
mined the  character  of  Mr.  Murray.  Strange  to  say,  while 
the  court  had  come  to  this  conclusion,  the  jury  were  tending 
to  the  old  position  which  the  court  had  left.  After  being 
out  a  long  time,  they  returned  and  said  they  could  not  pos- 
11 


1G2  MEMOIR   OF 

sibly  agree.  But  Judge  Dana,  replied  with  much  sternness, 
that  they  must  agree,  and  bade  them  take  up  their  papers 
and  return  to  their  room.  After  remaining  there  many 
hours  longer,  they  came  into  court  with  a  verdict  affirming 
the  former  verdict.  And  thus  this  case  was  settled  as 
undoubtedly  it  should  have  been. 

In  a  previous  chapter  some  allusion  was  made  to  my 
father's  services  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature.  To  me, 
the  most  interesting  of  these,  by  far,  occurred  in  1790.  In 
that  year,  Mr.  John  Gardiner,  an  able  man  and  lawyer, 
proposed  in  the  Legislature,  and  maintained  with  great  zeal 
and  force,  sundry  reforms  —  as  he  deemed  them  —  of  great 
importance.  My  father  was  his  principal  opponent.  And  on 
one  point  especially,  —  that  of  special  pleading,  which  Mr. 
Gardiner  sought  to  abolish,  and  which  has  since  been  not 
only  abolished,  but  forbidden  by  law,  —  my  father  at  that 
time  defeated  him.  Of  this  subject  of  special  pleading  I 
shall  have  much  to  say  in  the  next  chapter.  Here  I  will 
only  extract  from  Willis's  History  of  Portland  the  best 
account  I  have  ever  met  Avith  of  this  affair. 

The  excitement  which  existed  against  lawyers  and  the  courts 
to  an  alarming  extent  in  Massachusetts,  in  1  "85,  and  some  years 
after,  was  not  much  felt  here  :  the  Shays  Rebellion  had  no 
advocates  in  this  part  of  the  country.  A  prejudice,  however, 
did  prevail  against  the  profession,  which  was  concentrated  and 
carried  into  the  Legislature  in  1790,  by  John  Gardiner  of 
Pownalborough,  a  barrister  at  law.  He  introduced  a  resolution 
in  January  of  that  year,  that  the  House  would  resolve  itself  into 
a  committee  of  the  whole  to  take  into  consideration  "  the  present 
state  of  the  law  and  its  professors  in  the  Commonwealth."  lie 
prefaced  his  resolution  bv  some  able  and  spirited  remarks,  which 
he  subsequently  enforced  and  illustrated,  against  lawyers  and 
what  he  termed  abuses  of  the  law,  some  of  which  were  merely 
imaginary.  lie  objected  to  the  association  of  members  of  the 
bar,  and  the,  formation  of  bar  rules,  the  modes  of  taxing  cost, 
and  other  practices,  which  lie  termed  illegal  and  unwarrantable 
usurpations.  He  thought  the  law  ought  to  be  simplified  ;  that 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  163 

many  customs  had  crept  in  from  the  English  law  which  should  be 
eradicated.  His  desire  was  to  thrust  in  the  knife  and  remove 
entirely  all  those  customs  which  he  and  others  considered  griev- 
ances. While  the  subject  was  before  the  Legislature,  Mr, 
Gardiner,  in  the  heat  of  debate  and  in  a  highly  excited  state 
of  feelings,  cast  many  aspersions  upon  lawyers,  which  had  a 
tendency  to  bring  the  whole  class  into  disrepute  and  encourage 
the  unfounded  prejudice  which  existed  against  them  out  of  doors. 
Pie  had  not,  however,  many  supporters  in  the  House.  The  bills 
which  he  introduced  were  rejected  by  large  majorities.  The  one 
to  annihilate  special  pleading  was  debated  with  great  earnest- 
ness, and  the  late  Chief  Justice  Parsons  opposed  it  with  a  power 
that  could  not  be  resisted. 

To  tliis  passage  there  is  the  following  foot-note : 

At  this  time  Judge  Parsons  drew  from  Mr.  Gardiner  the  fol- 
lowing eulogium :  "  This  erroneous  opinion  of  the  gentlemen  of 
the  profession  here  was  taken  from  a  mere  dictum  of  the  late  Mr. 
Gridley,  who,  though  a  mighty  pompous  man,  was  a  man  of  con- 
siderable learning  and  abilities,  —  in  learning  and  genius,  how- 
ever, almost  infinitely  inferior  to  that  great  giant  of  learning  and 
genius,  the  law  member  from  Newburyport."  Mr.  Parsons  was 
then  but  forty  years  old. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  act  that  he  drew  was  the 
Statute  of  Distributions,  which,  almost  as  it  came  from  his 
pen,  regulates  the  distribution  of  the  personal  property  of 
an  intestate,  to  this  day.  I  cannot  but  think  the  following 
letter  worth  preserving,  for  the  lawyer  at  least,  as  throwing 
light  on  some  of  the  questions  which  this  subject  then  pre- 
sented, and  on  the  principles  which  were  adopted  in  refer- 
ence to  those  questions.  It  is  without  date,  and  is  addressed 
only  to  "  Chief  Justice,"  but  must  have  been  written  about 
1805,  and  addi-cssed  to  Chief  Justice  Dana. 

DEAR  SIR  : 

Agreeably  to  my  promise,  I  enclose  you  a  draft  of  a  new 
Statute  of  Distributions.  After  you  have  weighed  the  principles 
and  the  language  of  the  bill,  I  wish  we  could  have  some  con-, 
versation  on  the  subject.  If  some  Saturday  morning  you  could 


164  MEMOIR  OF 

call  upon  me,  and  stay  and  take  your  fish  with  me,  I  should  feel 
much  obliged  to  you.  I  make  the  following  remarks  on  the  bill, 
•with  the  desire  that  you  would  pay  attention  to  the  paragraphs  to 
which  they  refer. 

2.  This  provision  is  agreeably  to  the  old  law,  except  the  jus 
primogcniturcc.     But  on  the  second  paragraph  one  question  has 
occurred  to  me  in  my  practice.    One  of  the  daughters  died  under 
age  and  unmarried,  but  twenty  years   old,   possessing   a   large 
personal  estate  which  she  received  from  her  father  as  her  dis- 
tributive share.     She  bequeathed  it  by  last  will.     Could  she  do 
it,  or  would  the    surviving   brothers   and  sisters  take  it  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  legatee  ?     Another  question  may  arise.     Sup- 
pose the  mother  of  the  intestate's  children  had  issue  living  by  a 
former  husband,  and  a  child  of  the  intestate  dies  under  age  and 
unmarried,  will  the  half-blood  be  considered  as  one  of  the  sur- 
viving brothers  and  sisters  ? 

3.  Can  the  general  provision  in  this  paragraph  affect  by  con- 
struction the  second  paragraph  ? 

4.  A  question  has  been  made,  whether,  if  the  intestate  leaves 
father  and  mother,  shall  the  mother  have  a  moiety  ?     The  prac- 
tice has  been  conformably  to  the  paragraph,  but  Judge  ]).  Sewall 
has,  I  am  informed,  given  a  different  opinion. 

5.  If  the  intestate  leaves  only  nephews  and  nieces,  they  are 
excluded  in  favor  of  the  mother  ;  but  if  he  leaves  a  brother  or 
sister,  then  the  nephews  and  nieces  may  take  with  the  mother  by 
representation. 

6.  This   paragraph  settles  the  question  agreeably  to  the   de- 
cision in  Nurse's  case. 

7.  On   this  paragraph   a  question   has   arisen,   but  was   com- 
promised.    The  widow  had  a  provision  in  lieu  of  dower,  but  she 
claimed  dower  in  lands  after  purchased.     Can  she  have  it?  and 
shall  she  have,  one  third  or  one  half,  as  the  case  may  be,  of  the 
undevised  personal  estate  after  debts,  &c.  are  paid  ? 

8.  This  paragraph  prefers  the  nephew  to  the.  uncle,  the  child 
of  a  nephew  to  the  child  of  an  uncle,  &c.  ;  but  it  does  not  extend 
to  kindred  when  some  are  lineal  and  some  collateral.      Thus  the 
grandfather  will  share  with  the  brother,  the  great-grandfather 
with  the    nephew  and  the   uncle,   &c.     In   which   last  case  the 
uncle  will   take  with   the   nephew,  which  he  will  not  do  if  the 
great-grandfather  be  dead. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  1(55 

9.  This  exclusion  of  remote  collateral  representation  extends 
to  all  cases,  as  sections  two,  three,  and  five. 

10.  This  settles  a  question  among  lineal  descendants.     The 
intestate  leaves  only  grandchildren,  children  of  several  sons  and 
daughters  deceased.     Shall  the  grandchildren  take  per  capita  or 
per  stirpes  ? 

12.  This  paragraph  settles  the  prerogative  of  the  Common- 
wealth, as  it  relates  to  personal  as  well  as  real  estate.  Ought 
not  the  widow,  if  there  be  one,  to  have  all  the  personal  estate  ? 

14.  Great  frauds  have  been  practised,  for  want  of  some  pro- 
vision of  this  nature,  by  an  executor  not  interested  in  the  residue. 
After  the  will  has  been  made,  moneys  intended  for  the  residuary 
legatee  have  been  vested  in  after-purchased  lands,  which  the 
executor  would  not  sell,  but  applied  all  the  estate  given  the 
residuary  legatee  to  the  payment  of  debts  and  legacies,  and  then 
divided  the  after-purchased  lands  among  the  heirs. 

I  am,  with  great  respect,  your  very  friendly 

,^        ,      „.,  THEOPII.  PARSONS. 

December  8th. 

I  append  to  this  chapter  the  letters  which  have  been 
sent  to  me  in  reply  to  my  request  for  assistance.  I  know 
it  will  be  said  to  me,  for  certainly  I  say  it  to  myself, 
that  these  gentlemen  could  not  write  to  a  son  about  his 
father  otherwise  than  kindly ;  and  that  distance  of  time, 
operating  like  distance  of  space,  has  clothed  the  subject  with 
hues  that  were  not  its  own.  But  let  all  due  allowance  be 
made  on  these  grounds,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  something 
remains  which  may  be  worth  reading. 

The  first  is  from  the  venerable  Ezekiel  Whitman,  now 
residing  in  East  Bridgewater.  I  have  not  the  pleasure  of 
his  acquaintance,  but  in  reply  to  my  request,  he  sent  me, 
promptly  and  kindly,  the  following : 

East  Bridgewater,  April  3d,  1857. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

Your  favor  of  the  31st  ultimo  came  duly  to  hand.  It  would 
afford  me  great  pleasure  to  be  able  to  render  any  essential  aid 
in  the  preparation  of  a  biography  of  Chief  Justice  Parsons.  But 
I  was  not  personally  acquainted  with  him  till  he  made  his  appear- 


166  MEMOIR  OF 

ance  at  Portland  as  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court, 
in  1807.  I  had,  however,  heard  of  him,  from  an  early  period  of 
my  life,  as  the  "  giant  of  the  law  "  in  Massachusetts.  He  was  at 
the  head  of  his  profession,  I  believe,  quite  soon  after  he  became 
a  member  of  it,  and  so  continued  until  the  day  of  his  decease.  I 
know  but  little  of  him,  except  as  Chief  Justice,  presiding  at  the 
law  terms  in  the  County  of  Cumberland.  I  think  he  never  held 
a  nisi  prius  term  there.  As  Chief  Justice  he  was  perfectly  at 
his  ease,  for  he  was  not  unconscious  of  his  superior  acquire- 
ments, nor  of  the  deference  every  one  was  ready  to  pay  to  them. 
He  was  uniformly  pleasant,  and  often  seemed  to  be  playfully 
facetious. 

I  have  heard  many  anecdotes  of  him,  illustrative  of  his  wit, 
which  I  presume  are  yet  current  and  well  remembered,  and 
therefore  need  not  be  repeated  by  me. 

With  much  esteem,  I  am,  Sir, 

Your  obedient,  humble  servant, 

EZKKIEL    WHITMAN'. 

The  next  is  from  the  lion.  William  Baylies,  of  West 
Bridgewater,  with  whom  I  practised  for  some  years  at  the 
Taunton  bar,  at  the  head  of  which  he  stood,  longo  intervallo, 
Many  years  have  passed  away  since  that  time  ;  and  even 
then  he  was  declining  business,  although  no  one  but  himself 
suspected  that  his  years  demanded  rest.  Long  may  he 
continue  in  his  present  enjoyment  of  all  the  blessings  which 
crown,  his  loved  and  honored  age. 

West  Brulgcwnter,  August  10,  1857. 
Mv  DK.AU  Sm: 

It  was,  I  think,  in  the  year  1803  or  1804,  that  I  had  the  pleas- 
ure, or  honor  I  mav  sav, —  lor  so  I  consider  it, — -to  become  ac- 
quainted with  your  father,  lie  was,  at  the  time  I  refer  to,  at 
Plymouth,  attending  the  Supreme  Court,  then  sitting  in  that 
town,  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  J  called  upon  him,  in  the 
course  of  the  term,  at  his  lodgings,  iipm  a  matter  of  business. 
He  received  me  with  nnn-h  kindness,  and  the  business  matter 
being  soon  disposed  of,  he  proceeded  to  converse  upon  other  sul>- 
jects.  The  topics  were  various  and  somewhat  diverse.  Among 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  JC7 

them  -wore  Special  Pleading,  —  -which,  you  know,  among  the  old 
lawyers  of  my  time,  was  considered  as  the  "  sinews  of  the  com- 
mon law,"  —  the  Law  of  Real  Actions,  Booth's  Treatise,  the  Essex 
Bar,  anecdotes  of  individual  members  of  it,  &c.,  &c. 

I  listened  attentively  to  his  remarks,  and  was  not  only  enter- 
tained, but  instructed,  by  them  ;  and  left  him  delighted  with  my 
interview,  and  fully  convinced  that  a  great  and  profound  lawyer, 
with  a  texture  of  brain  as  strong  as  that  of  Newton,  could  be, 
at  the  same  time,  notwithstanding  these  impediments,  an  amiable 
and  agreeable  man  in  social  and  private  life,  and  a  gentleman, 
using  that  word  in  its  best  sense. 

I  heard  him  several  times,  at  Plymouth,  address  a  jury;  but  of 
his  manner  and  style  of  argument  I  cannot  speak  so  distinctly 
and  particularly  as  I  could  wish ;  for,  after  the  lapse  of  more  than 
half  a  century,  the  vivid  impression  made  upon  me  at  the  time  of 
hearing  him  has  partially  faded  from  my  mind.  It  appeared  to 
me,  however,  as  far  as  I  can  now  recollect,  that  his  style  and 
manner  were  well  suited  to  the  solid,  philosophical,  and  logical 
character  of  his  mind.  They  were  plain,  natural,  and  without  a 
particle  of  affectation.  There  was  no  attempt  at  display,  no 
parade,  no  note  of  preparation,  —  nothing  of  the  theatrical  or 
the  rhetorical.  In  one  word,  there  was  no  bluster.  Cool,  col- 
lected, and  self-possessed,  never  surprised  or  embarrassed,  he 
proceeded  at  once  to  lay  before  the  jury  the  great  and  leading 
points  of  the  case,  and  paid  little  or  no  attention  to  the  minor 
points.  lie  spoke  with  facility,  but  not  with  that  rapidity  of 
utterance  which  sometimes  confuses  not  only  the  hearer,  but  the 
speaker  himself.  His  language  was  clear,  simple,  and  perfectly 
adapted  to  the  subject  of  which  he  was  treating,  and  easily  un- 
derstood by  any  person  of  ordinary  intelligence.  Though  he 
omitted  nothing  important  to  the  strength  of  his  argument,  he 
never  was  redundant,  and  might  properly  be  called  a  concise 
speaker.  He  had  the  power  of  condensation,  which,  as  the  late 
Colonel  Pickering  once  remarked  to  me,  was  a  rare  and  great  tal- 
ent, and  further  said,  that  among  the  few  that  he  had  ever  known 
to  possess  it  was  Theophilus  Parsons.  His  manner,  though  not 
vehement,  was  earnest  and  energetic.  He  used  but  little  gesture  ; 
and  his  voice,  though  not  loud,  was  pleasant  and  persuasive.  He 
spoke  like  one  anxious  to  get  at  the  truth  ;  and  if  the  power  of 
convincing  by  strong  and  forcible  argument  may  with  propriety 


168  MEMOIR  OF 

be  denominated  eloquence,  he  possessed  as  much  of  that  faculty 
as  any  one  I  ever  heard.  He  never  was  oppressed  by  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  case  in  which  he  appeared ;  however  difficult,  or 
perplexed,  or  complicated  it  might  be,  he  would,  whether  address- 
ing the  court  or  the  jury,  "  the  Gordian  knot  of  it  unloose  familiar 
as  his  garter." 

It  is  not  for  me  to  assign  his  rank  at  the  bar,  or  to  designate 
the  niche  in  the  Temple  of  Fame  which  his  bust  shall  occupy. 
But  I  know  this,  —  that  he  stood  pre-eminent  at  the  Massachu- 
setts bar,  at  the  head  of  his  profession  in  the  opinion  of  all  the 
lawvcrs  with  whom  I  have  been  conversant ;  and  it  must  be 
recollected  that,  even  at  that  time,  there  were  some  giants  in  the 
land. 

To  show  the  high  estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  his 
contemporaries,  I  will  particularly  refer  to  the  just  and  beautiful 
sketch  of  his  character  by  the  late  Chief  Justice  Parker,  in  his 
Address  to  the  Grand  Jury  of  the  County  of  Suilblk,  10  Mass. 
Reports,  521 ;  and  also  to  the  Life  of  Judge  J.  Smith,  page  428. 

His  appointment  to  the  oflice  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  gave  great  and  general  satisfaction,  not  only  to  the  bar, 
but  to  the  public.  It  was  thought  that  so  learned  a  lawyer  and 
powerful  an  advocate  as  he  was  could  hardly  fail  of  making  a 
good  judge;  and  this  reasonable  expectation  was  not  in  the  least 
disappointed.  From  his  first  appearance  in  court  as  a  judge,  it 
was  evident  that  he  was  admirably  fitted  and  qualified  for  the 
high  and  important  office  to  which  he  had  been  promoted,  and 
that  he  was  as  familiar  with  its  duties  as  though  he  had  been 
seated  on  the  bench  a  dozen  years. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  particulars.  It  is  enough  to  say, 
in  general  terms,  that  he  displayed  on  the  bench  the  same  great 
talents,  the  same  powers  of  mind,  the  same  strength  of  argument, 
and  the  same  professional  knowledge,  which  he  had  exhibited  at 
the  bar. 

But  a  great  and  learned  judge  may  have  defects  of  temper  and 
manners  that,  impair  his  usefulness,  and  in  some  measure  disqual- 
ify him  for  the  proper  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  oflice ;  and  I 
have  understood  that  Judge  Parsons  was,  in  some,  quarters, 
charged  with  being  harsh  and  overbearing  in  his  treatment  of 
the,  members  of  the  bar,  and  of  encroaching  upon  their  rights. 
My  opportunities  for  observation  in  this  respect  were,  as  you 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  169 

know,  very  limited.  I  am  not  certain  that  I  ever  saw  him  acting 
as  a  judge,  except  at  Plymouth  and  at  Taunton.  But  at  these 
places,  Plymouth  and  Taunton,  I  attended  several  terms  of  the 
Supreme  Court  when  he  sat  as  judge,  or  presided ;  and,  speaking 
from  personal  observation  and  my  best  recollection,  I  say,  with 
confidence  and  without  hesitation,  that  I  saw  nothing  and  heard 
nothing  that  in  my  judgment  would  justify  the  imputation  that 
he  was  harsh  and  overbearing  in  his  treatment  of  the  bar.  On 
the  contrary,  his  usual  deportment  towards  the  bar  appeared  to 
me  mild,  friendly,  and  familiar. 

It  is  true,  however,  that  I  have  heard  him  on  a  few  occasions 
reprehend  members  of  the  bar  for  their  negligence  or  careless- 
ness, by  which  their  client's  case  was  lost,  or  the  trial  delayed. 
These  reproofs,  however,  were  rare,  and  did  not  appear  to  arise 
from  an  irascible  temper,  but  to  proceed  from  a  desire  to  elevate 
the  character  of  the  bar  by  impressing  upon  the  minds  of  its 
members  the  importance  of  the  relation  they  held  to  the  court, 
and  of  their  duty  to  their  clients. 

That  Judge  Parsons  had  a  kindly  nature  while  at  the  bar,  I 
personally  know  ;  and  it  can  hardly  be  conceived  that  that  kindly 
nature  could  be  changed  in  passing  to  the  bench. 

I  will  conclude  by  saying,  that  Chief  Justice  Parsons  was,  in 
my  opinion,  an  honor  to  his  profession  and  to  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  and  that,  if  he  was  not  a  wise  and  great  man,  I  know 
not  where  we  shall  look  to  find  one. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  friend, 

WM.  BAYLIES. 

THEOPHILUS  PARSONS,  ESQ. 

The  next  is  from  the  Hon.  Zachariah  Eddy,  who  has  long 
since  retired  from  the  labors  of  a  profession  in  which  he 
held  a  high  rank.  Not  having  the  pleasure  of  knowing  this 
gentleman  personally,  I  requested  my  friend  and  colleague, 
Professor  Washburn,  to  ask  of  him  the  assistance  I  needed. 
He  received  at  once  the  following  reply. 

MR.  WASHBURN  : 

Such  reminiscences  as  I  have  of  the  late  Chief  Justice  Parsons 
must  be  given  calamo  currents.  My  first  acquaintance  with  him 
was  on  my  admission  as  a  counsellor  in  the  Supreme  Judicial 


170  MEMOIR   OF 

Court,  which  I  think  was  in  1809,  when  he  enjoined  us  thus: 
"Young  gentlemen,  read  your  books,  read  your  books."  The 
title  to  Marshfield  Beach  was  on  trial,  Dr.  Isaac  AVinslow  being 
demandant.  The  charge  called  up  all  the  doctrine  of  seizin  and 
disseizin,  and  indeed  almost  all  the  law  of  real  property,  and  the 
charge  to  the  jury  was  the  most  thorough  and  learned  of  all  the 
opinions  I  have  known  him  pronounce,  and  filled  me  with  aston- 
ishment. 

I  had  before  heard  him  argue  a  case,  when  he  was  counsel  with 
George  Wake  (the  case  is  in  1  Mass.  Hep.),  which  called  up  the 
nullum  tanpus  act.  I  remember  Mr.  Blake  addressed  the  judges 
full  half  a  dozen  times,  and  that  Mr.  Parsons,  every  time,  told 
the  judges  he  did  not  agree  with  his  colleague  (as  to  the  law)  in 
what  he  said.  The  judges  made  two  or  three  circuits  before  any 
of  the  lawyers  in  the  Old  Colony  ventured  to  make  a  law  argu- 
ment before  him ;  but  submitted  their  cases  unreservedly  to  the 
court.  Judge  Parker  told  me  that  the  course  was  the  same  in 
the  Eastern  circuit.  Such  was  the  veneration  of  the  bar  for  him 
as  a  lawyer,  that  they  exhibited  an  unusual  awe  in  his  presence. 

There  was  great  neglect  in  preparing  the  papers  for  the  court, 
and  it  was  several  years  before  it  was  properly  attended  to  ;  and 
I  have  seen  him  nonsuit  our  oldest  counsellors  for  that  cause  very 
often,  in  order  to  induce  future  attention  to  the  rule  requiring  the 
furnishing  of  the  papers  in  the  case.  Sometimes,  when  he  found 
the  cases  were  important,  and  a  speedy  decision  very  desirable, 
he  would  (out  of  court)  advise  them  to  move.  "  that  the  nonsuit 
be  taken  oil'." 

lie  had  not  much  patience  to  hear  an  unsound  argument,  nor 
to  hear  counsel  advance  an  untenable  point}  and  the  lawyers 
were  so  poorly  versed  in  legal  lore,  that  they  were  not  only  will- 
ing, but  desirous,  that  he  should  take  the  disposal  of  the  whole 
case  into  his  own  hands.  I  have  known  him,  many  times,  do  this 
with  great  reluctance. 

My  first  case  before  him  was  a  demurrer  to  a  special  plea, 
which  I  had  drawn  with  much  care  and  attention.  lie  asked  me 
if  I  relied  upon  it.  I  slid  I  did,  and  the.  opposite  counsel  said 
the  same  of  his  demurrer.  I  felt  much  gratified  with  his  full 
approval  of  the  plea,  and  overruling  the  demurrer.  1  found  he 
intended  to  put  a  stop  to  pleading  with  a  reservation,  and  I  made 
special  pleading  a  special  study  from  the  time  of  his  coming  upon 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  171 

the  bench.  I  was  young,  and  during  his  administration  was  not 
a  companion  of  the  Chief  Justice,  but  a  hearer  and  a  learner, 
and  scarcely  saw  him  more  than  once  a  year,  once  or  twice  at 
nisiprius,  and  always  at  the  law  term  for  the  Old  Colony. 

Yours  truly, 

Z.  EDDY. 
East  Middlcborough,  April  1,  1857. 

P.  S.  I  remember  one  or  two  things  at  table.  When  the  con- 
versation became  interesting,  the  sheriff  would  sometimes  say, 
"  It  is  three  o'clock ;  shall  I  order  the  bell  ?  "  His  answer  was, 
"  It  is  not  three  o'clock  till  the  court  say  it  is  three  o'clock." 

To  JVIr.  Judson,  the  father  of  the  missionary,  he  said,  "  You 
have  a  son  who  is  going  on  a  mission?  "  "Yes."  "Well,  if  I 
had  a  son  who  could  work  miracles,  I  would  send  him  on  a  mis- 
sion." 

On  one  occasion  he  said :  "  Fisher  brought  me  forty  notes  of 
hand  to  collect,  and  ordered  them  all  to  be  sued,  and  said  he  had 
taken  the  administration  from  his  brother's  hands,  because  he 
•would  not  do  it.  Nothing  was  recovered ;  and  when  Fisher 
called  for  his  costs,  he  paid  the  bills  and  said,  '  I  have  learned  the 
meaning  of  administration  de  bonis  non  ;  it  means  where  there  is 
nothing  to  l>e  got.' " 

In  preparing  the  course  of  debate  on  the  adoption  of  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution,  Governor  Strong  said  of  one  article,  "  Parsons, 
that  regards  the  law ;  and  you  are  the  one  to  expound  and  en- 
force it."  To  which  the  Judge  replied,  "  Strong,  you  can  do 
more  with  that  honest  face  of  yours  than  I  can  with  all  my  legal 
knowledge."  Judge  Thomas  was  present,  and  told  me  this. 

He  said  Fisher  Ames  used  to  call  the  court  bell  "  the  birch 
stick  "  (in  allusion  to  the  court  being  kept  in  order  like  a  school)  ; 
and  on  one  occasion,  when  the  court  had  ruled  all  the  points  in  a 
case  against  Ben.  Whitman  (his  opposing  counsel),  and  he  still 
went  on  arguing  them,  Ames  said,  "  The  gentleman  puts  me  in 
mind  of  an  old  hen  which  persists  in  setting  after  her  eggs  are 
taken  away." 

In  recurring  to  what  I  have  written,  I  find  I  have  said  nothing 
as  to  the  new  course  of  trying  cases  which  Judge  Parsons  intro- 
duced. The  dockets  were  very  full  in  all  the  counties,  and  the 
cases  had  accumulated  by  reason  of  the  loose  and  desultory  man- 


172  MEMOIR  OF 

nor  of  trial,  caused,  I  think,  also  by  the  imperfect  state  of  legal 
knowledge,  which  was  quite  limited,  not  only  among  the  bar, 
but  with  many  of  the  judges.  There  were  no  American  reports, 
and  few  had  any  from  England. 

Judge  Parsons  was  very  provident  of  time.  He  would  not  per- 
mit it  to  be  uselessly  spent.  He  had  not  much  patience  with 
counsel  or  client  who  had  not  his  case  prepared  ;  nor  would  he 
hear  impertinent  or  irrelevant  testimony,  or  groundless  argument. 
He  said  the  multitude  of  cases  called  for  promptness,  as  did  also 
the  finances  of  the  county.  "\Vhcn  a  term  ended,  he  would  en- 
join counsel  to  be  better  prepared  in  their  cases  in  time  to  come 
(and  sometimes,  to  read  their  looks),  that  the  time  and  money  of 
the  county  might  not  be  wasted. 

All  of  these  letters  speak  as  much,  and  perhaps  more,  of 
my  father  as  a  judge,  than  as  a  practising  lawyer,  and  for 
that  reason  might  perhaps  have  been  appropriately  placed  at 
the  close  of  the  next  chapter.  But  what  they  say  of  him  as 
a  lawyer  is  better  here,  and  what  they  say  applicable  to  him 
only  as  a  judge  will  serve  as  well  to  introduce  that  subject 
as  to  close  it. 

I  indulge  myself  with  adding  a  letter,  which  is  not  from 
an  old  man,  but  from  one  who  must  live  very  many  years 
before  anything  of  decrepitude  or  decay  can  make  him  an 
old  man.  I  refer  to  Dr.  Oliver  "\Vendell  Holmes  of  Boston. 
I  wrote  to  him  in  the  hope  that  he  might  have  papers  of 
the  late  Judge  Jackson  (his  father-in-law,  and  one  of  my 
father's  very  best  friends),  which  would  be  of  use  to  me. 
With  the  letter  I  sent  him  a  lithograph  of  Stuart's  sketch. 
Here  the  relation  which  exists  between  me  and  some  of  the 
correspondents  whose  letters  I  give,  is  reversed.  I  am 
withdrawn  from  public  observation,  while  he  lives  in  its 
fullest  light,  and  is  known  far  more  widely  than  I  am.  It 
may  be  but  one  more  instance  how  Yankees  turn  everything 
to  account,  that  he,  the  wittiest  of  the  race,  has  discovered, 
and  is  teaching  others,  that  the  true  function  of  wit  is  to  be 
the  vehicle  of  wisdom.  Many  a  true  thought  has  ho  thus 
sent  to  the  hearts  of  his  readers,  which,  as  a  moral  formula 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  173 

or  a  logical  abstraction,  would  not  have  penetrated  their 
understandings.  His  armed  rockets  are  impelled  and  driven 
home  by  the  flame  which  makes  them  sparkle  as  they  fly. 

Boston,  March  4th. 
MY  DKAU  SIR: 

Many  thanks  for  your  kind  gift  of  your  father's  portrait.  It  is 
full  of  interest  for  me,  his  name  having  been  so  long  associated  in 
my  mind  with  all  that  my  imagination  can  picture  of  sagacity 
and  wisdom,  acuteness  and  breadth  of  mind,  united  with  the 
qualities  that  commanded  the  respect  and  conciliated  the  love  of 
those  around  him. 

My  father-in-law,  Judge  Jackson,  was  less  in  the  habit  of  re- 
peating his  reminiscences  of  the  past,  and  living  over  better  limes, 
in  narration,  than  many  men  of  advanced  age.  There  was  a 
reserve  and  modesty  in  his  character  that  would  have  prevented 
him  from  glorying,  as  some  old  men  harmlessly  do,  in  the  name 
and  fame  of  an  early  friend  or  revered  instructor.  But  when- 
ever he  mentioned  the  name  of  "  Mr.  Parsons,"  it  was  as  one 
speaks  of  the  wisest  man  whom  he  has  known,  and  not  only  the 
wisest,  but  the  most  honored  and  trusted.  I  have  rarely  heard 
him  praise  "  Mr.  Parsons,"  except  when  a  question  called  up  the 
mention  of  some  of  his  high  qualities ;  but  he  always  seemed  to 
assume  that,  in  his  own  experience  of  life,  this  was  the  one  great 
man  whom  he  had  met  with  and  known,  and  whose  memory  and 
thoughts  were  the  best  inheritance  that  his  professional  life  had 
bequeathed  him. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  shall  be  able  to  add  anything  from  my 
vague  recollections  to  your  Memoir ;  but  I  am  rejoiced  that  you 
have  undertaken  to  write  one,  wondering  only  that  it  has  not 
been  done  before  this,  by  other  hands,  if  not  your  own.  I  shall 
talk  over  the  Judge's  recollections  with  "  the  Doctor  "  ;  and  if  I 
can  glean  anything,  be  assured  it  will  give  me  the  greatest  pleas- 
ure to  communicate  it  to  you. 

Yours  very  respectfully, 

O.  W.  HOLMES. 

"  The  Doctor "  whom  he  speaks  of  is  his  uncle,  Dr. 
James  Jackson,  of  whom  I  need  say  but  little,  for  few  men 
are  better  known  in  this  community.  And  if  I  said  more,  I 


174  MEMOIR  OF 

should  have  to  choose  between  a  most  inadequate  expres- 
sion of  my  respect  and  regard,  or  a  testimony  to  his  worth 
which  would  seem  extravagant  to  them  who  do  not  know 
that,  in  his  old  age,  —  of  which  the  peace  seems  to  be  even 
the  more  profound,  because  his  usefulness  has  not  abated,  — 
he  lives  in  the  fullest  enjoyment  of  all 

"  That  should  accompany  old  age, 
As  honor,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends."  * 

In  a  recent  interview,  he  related  to  me  a  conversation  to 
which  he  listened  when  quite  young,  between  my  father, 
John  Jay  of  New  York,  and  his  own  father,  —  "  Treasurer 
Jackson,"  as  I  used  to  hear  him  called,  —  in  his  father's 
home.  lie  could  not  give  me  the  words ;  but  it  was  sub- 
stantially this :  Mr.  Jay  had  expressed  his  regret,  and 
almost  his  surprise,  that  Providence  permitted  the  benefits 
of  experience  to  descend  to  others  only  in  so  imperfect  a 
degree ;  and  he  remarked  how  much  wiser  the  world  would 
be  if,  when  the  father  died,  he  could  give  to  the  son  all  those 
lessons  which  he  had  himself  learned  in  the  hard  school  of 
personal  experience.  And  my  father  replied,  that  tin's  would 
defeat  the  chief  purpose  for  which  we  live  ;  for  that  is  the 
culture  and  moral  improvement  of  each  individual  by  his 
oicn  efforts.  Hence  it  seems  to  be  provided,  that  experi- 

*  A  year  or  so  ago,  while  conversing  with  Dr.  Jackson,  I  happened 
to  remark  that,  at  my  age,  I  felt  as  if  one's  days  must  be  few,  and  tho 
capacity  of  usefulness  well-nigh  exhausted.  "  You  mistake  there," 
said  he.  "At  sixty,  a  man  in  fair  health  may  enter  upon  a  series  of 
years  equal  in  usefulness  and  happiness  to  those  of  any  period,  pro- 
vided proper  precautions  arc  taken  and  proper  habits  formed."  And 
upon  further  inquiry  into  these  essentials  or  conditions,  I  found  he 
summed  them  up  in  "employment  without  labor;  exercise  without 
weariness ;  temperance  without  abstinence."  These  rules  have  no 
bearing  on  my  father's  life,  unless  by  way  of  contrast,  for  lie  labored  to 
his  last  sickness  without  one  jot  of  abatement,  and  took  little  exercise, 
and  was  free  and  careless  in  his  diet.  But  I  give  them  here  because 
they  seem  to  contain  as  much  sound  sense  and  wise  advice  as  could 
easily  be  compacted  into  the  same  number  of  words. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  175 

ence  may  so  far  be  transmitted,  and  its  lessons  accumulate, 
as,  on  the  whole,  to  make  the  world  wiser,  and  to  assist  each 
person  in  the  work  of  building  up  his  own  character,  but 
not  so  far  as  to  permit  the  father  to  do  this  work,  or  any 
part  of  it,  in  the  stead  of  the  son,  because  the  whole  work, 
and  all  that  belongs  to  it,  must  be  done  by  each  individual, 
in  his  own  freedom,  and  upon  his  own  responsibility. 

I  must  be  permitted  to  say  a  word  more  of  one  who  was 
among  my  father's  most  valued  friends.  Jonathan  Jackson 
was  born  in  Newburyport  in  1743.  His  father  was  a  mer- 
chant. He  graduated  in  1761,  and  was,  at  different  times, 
a  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  United  States  Mar- 
shal for  the  District  of  Massachusetts,  an  inspector  of  excise, 
and  Treasurer  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  also  Treasurer  of 
Harvard  College.  From  boyhood  I  was  accustomed  to  hear 
my  father  speak  of  him  in  terms  which  placed  him  before 
me  as  the  embodiment  of  sound  sense  and  absolute  integrity. 
His  family  exhibit  a  remarkable  instance  of  a  father's  im- 
parting to  his  children,  by  blood  or  education,  or  both,  his 
own  elements  of  excellence  ;  each  of  those  whom  I  have 
known  having  in  his  own  walk  attained  a  distinction  which 
might  well  have  satisfied  more  ambition  than  the  father  or 
the  sons  possessed.  Of  Dr.  Jackson  I  have  already  spoken. 
His  younger  brother,  Patrick,  was  a  merchant,  and,  after  a 
life  of  eminent  usefulness,  died  in  the  year  1847,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-seven,  leaving  behind  him  no  member  of  the  commu- 
nity to  whom  more  of  its  respect  was  given.  Charles  Jack- 
son, the  eldest  brother,  was  a  lawyer,  and  a  thoroughly  good 
lawyer  in  every  possible  sense  of 'the  word;  one  to  whom 
duty  was  the  only  rule  of  life  that  he  could  even  think  of; 
and  to  whom  departure  from  the  exactest  line  of  right  was 
simply  an  impossible  thing.  In  1813,  he  left  as  great  a  busi- 
ness as  one  man  could  have,  and  accepted  a  seat  on  the  Su- 
preme Bench.  He  held  it  for  ten  years,  and  then  was  com- 
pelled by  feeble  health  to  resign  it.  No  man  ever  took  that 
hij;h  office  with  a  more  unanimous  acknowledgment  of  his 


176  MEMOIR  OF 

fitness ;  no  one  ever  exercised  its  functions  with  a  more  uni- 
versal acceptance,  or  left  it  with  a  more  universal  regret. 
Upon  the  commission  to  revise  the  statutes  of  the  Common- 
wealth which  reported  in  1835,  his  services  were,  as  I  can 
testify,  invaluable.* 

I  close  these  letters  with  the  following  from  the  Hon. 
C.  P.  Phclps. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

I  have  prepared  at  some  intervals  the  following  desultory 
statements,  in  answer  to  your  request  that  I  would  furnish  you 
with  such  incidents  in  the  early  life  of  your  father  as  may  have 
come  to  my  knowledge. 

My  acquaintance  with  him  commenced  after  he  was  forty 
years  of  age.  I  then  knew  nothing  of  his  previous  history, 
and  the  little  knowledge  of  it  that  I  subsequently  acquired  was 
mostly  derived  from  irresponsible  hearsay. 

I  entered  his  office  as  a  law  student  in  January,  1792,  and 
remained  there  till  April,  1795,  —  about  three  years.  But  his 
professional  business  called  him  away  from  home  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  year;  I  should  think  at  least  three  fourths  of 
the  time.  His  practice  in  the  courts  in  the  State  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  the  counties  of  Suffolk,  Middlesex,  Essex,  and  Norfolk 
in  Massachusetts,  and  occasionally  in  Rhode  Island,  occupied  a 
large  portion  of  his  time.  Except  when  attending  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  in  Boston,  he  usually  returned  at  the  close  of  the 

*  In  the  75th  volume  of  the  Probate  Records  of  Boston,  folio  36, 
there  is  a  deed  of  manumission  of  "  Pomp  "  by  his  master  and  owner. 
It  is  dated  one  fortnight  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
begins  thus:  "I,  Jonathan  Jackson,  of  Newburyport,  in  consideration 
of  the  impropriety  I  feel,  and  long  have  felt,  in  holding  any  person  in 
constant  bondage,  more  especially  at  the  time  when  my  country  is  so 
warmly  contending  for  the  liberty  every  man  ought  to  enjoy,"  and  also 
in  consideration  of  promises,  &c.  to  "  my  negro  man  Pomp  "  ;  and 
then  goes  on  formally  to  liberate  and  manumit  him.  "  Pomp  Jack- 
son," its  he  is  called  in  the  records,  served  as  a  freeman,  and  a  fifcr, 
in  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  settled  in  Andover  in  this  State,  and 
gave  his  name  to  "  Pomp's  Pond  "  in  that  town,  and  died  there  in 
1822,  being  almost  u  century  old. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  177 

week,  and  passed  the  Sunday  at  home.     He  seldom  spent  many 
consecutive  weeks  with  his  family,  except  in  midsummer. 

His  habits  outside  of  his  profession  were  very  domestic.  His 
attachment  to  his  Avife  and  children  was  sincere  and  marked,  and 
his  attentions  to  the  younger  members  of  his  family  were  particu- 
larly endearing  and  affectionate. 

He  was  a  great  reader,  as  well  as  a  great  and  original  thinker. 
About  the  time  of  his  commencing  practice,  I  have  understood 
that  his  midnight  studies  and  intense  application  to  business 
prostrated  his  health  to  such  a  degree  that  his  friends  became 
seriously  alarmed,  and  for  some  time  were  doubtful  of  his  recov- 
ery. I  have  seen  a  portrait  of  him  taken  about  that  period  of  his 
life,  which  seemed  to  warrant  all  their  fears. 

No  one  that  knew  him  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury needs  to  be  told  that  he  was  well  versed  in  astronomy,  a 
fine  belles-lettres  scholar,  and  a  profound  mathematician,  who 
made  it  his  pastime  and  amusement  to  solve  questions  and  prob- 
lems, which  would  occupy  days  of  calculation,  and  fill  sheets  of 
paper  in  their  solution.  And  all  who  knew  him,  knew  also  that 
he  was  a  thoroughly  read  lawyer  in  all  the  departments  of  that 
science,  an  able  and  astute  special  pleader,  an  unflinching,  pow- 
erful, and  successful  advocate. 

His  conversational  talent  was  very  attractive,  when  he  felt 
inclined  to  exert  it,  which  he  was  sometimes  provokingly  unwill- 
ing to  do,  much  to  the  regret  of  his  friends.  He  was  an  admira- 
ble story-teller,  and  his  repartees  were  pungent  and  effective, 
and  his  general  information  upon  all  subjects  was  very  remark- 
able. I  had  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  him,  not  long  after 
his  removal  to  Boston,  Judge  Gould  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  a 
man  of  rare  powers  of  mind.  They  were  both  much  gratified 
with  the  meeting,  and  Judge  Gould  spoke  of  him  as  a  wonderful 
man ;  not  only  as  great  in  his  profession,  but  brilliant  and  fasci- 
nating in  his  social  powers.  But  Mr.  Parsons  was  not  in  the 
habit  of  mingling  much  in  mixed  society.  He  seldom  appeared 
at  dinner-parties,  or  gatherings  on  public  occasions,  and  I  have 
no  recollection  that  he  ever  attended  any  great  political  meeting. 
I  much  doubt  if  he  ever  made  an  evening  visit  to  a  family  in 
Newburyport,  during  the  three  years  of  my  residence  there, 
except  among  his  family  connections,  or  to  the  houses  of  his 
physician  (Doctor  Sawyer)  and  his  ministers  (Messrs.  Carey  and 
Andrews). 

12 


178  MEMOIR   OF 

As  he  was  subjected  through  life  to  occasional  attacks  of 
nervous  disease,  it  frequently  happened,  that,  when  released 
from  his  active  professional  services  during  the  summer  vacation, 
the  want  of  out-door  exercise  brought  on  physical  complaints, 
which  produced  hypochondria,  and  often  confined  him  to  his  house 
for  weeks,  when  he  was  rarely  seen  by  any,  except  his  particular 
friends.  But  when  the  court  term  came  on,  he  always  rallied, 
and  was  scon  in  his  place  at  the  bar. 

As  to  the  preparatory  professional  studies  of  Mr.  Parsons,  I 
have  heard  very  little.  My  impression  is,  that  he  read  law  a 
year  or  more  in  the  office  of  Theophilus  Bradbury  in  Portland, 
(who  was  afterwards  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court 
of  Massachusetts,)  and  at  the  same  time  taught  the  Grammar 
School  in  that  place,  and,  I  believe,  first  opened  an  office  there. 
This  was  probably  near  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution. 
But  about  the  time  Portland  was  burned,  he  removed  to  Byfield, 
and  was  a  member  of  his  father's  family  some  time ;  and  while  a 
resident  there,  Judge  Trowbridgc  of  Cambridge,  a  distinguished 
jurist  of  that  day,  who  was  driven  from  his  home  by  the  dread  of 
the  small-pox,  then  raging  in  Boston,  sought  refuge  in  Byfield, 
and  became  a  boarder  at  the  parsonage.  And  Mr.  Parsons  has 
often  said,  that  he  acquired  during  that  period,  from  his  inter- 
course with  Judge  Trowbridge,  more  knowledge  of  law  as  a 
science,  than  he  had  done  in  all  his  previous  study. 

After  that,  he  practised  law  in  Xewburyport  some  time.  I 
know  not  exactly  how  long  before  his  marriage,  which  took 
place,  I  think,  in  January,  1780. 

Is'ot  long  after  the  death  of  Judge  Grccnleaf  (Mrs.  Parsons's 
father),  he  removed  to  Boston,  in  the  year  1800. 

In  IsoG,  I  believe,  near  the  close  of  the  first  term  of  Governor 
Strong's  administration,  he  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  on  the 
bench  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  Massachusetts.  From 
that  time  his  life  and  services  were  devoted  to  the  Common- 
wealth, until  his  death,  which  took  place  in  October,  ]<si:>. 
Since  that  period,  his  name  and  character  have  become,  in  this 
country,  coextensive:  with  the  knowledge  of  English  and  Amer- 
ican jurisprudence. 

As  a  statesman  and  politician  he  occupied  a  high  and  com- 
manding position,  and  was  an  acknowledged,  though  nut  openly 
self-avowed  leader.  He  was  a  member  of  the  powerful  "Essex 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  179 

Junto,"  a  political  club  in  bad  repute  with  the  radicals  and  Anti- 
Federalists  of  the  last  century,  and  feared,  not  less  than  hated, 
by  the  disorganizes  and  insurgents  of  that  and  a  later  day.  But 
the  political  influence  of  Mr.  Parsons  was  not  obtrusive ;  it  was 
always  more  felt  than  seen.  Among  the  leading  men  of  the 
times  were  James  Bowdoin,  John  Lowell  the  elder,  Timothy 
Pickering,  George  Cabot,  Stephen  Iligginson,  and  others. 

His  elevation  to  the  bench  was  hailed  by  the  citizens  of  Massa- 
chusetts with  great  and  very  general  satisfaction.  Many  of  the 
bar  highly  approved  it,  as  most  fit  in  itself;  a  few,  because  it 
would  open  to  them  a  wider  field  of  practice ;  and  some  were 
dissatisfied  from  various  motives,  not  necessary  to  specify.  In 
the  discharge  of  his  judicial  duties,  he  gave  almost  universal 
satisfaction,  except  with  the  bar.  The  business  had  so  accumu- 
lated upon  the  county  dockets,  that  few  cases  could  come  to  a 
trial  in  less  than  three  years.  Judge  Parsons  at  once  resolved 
that  the  dockets  should  be  cleared,  if  possible.  No  delays  were  to 
be  allowed,  unless  for  real  and  sufficient  reasons.  The  rule  was 
established,  that  the  cases  were  to  be  tried  each  in  its  regular 
turn,  and  the  parties  and  their  counsel  were  made  to  understand 
that  they  must  be  prepared  for  trial  when  called. 

A  new  face  of  things  was  soon  visible  in  the  courts,  and  all  but 
the  lawyers  were  satisfied.  The  litigants  who  gained,  were  of 
course  delighted ;  and  even  those  who  lost  their  causes  were 
glad  to  find  themselves  at  last  clear  of  a  lawsuit  of  which  they 
began  to  despair  of  ever  reaching  the  end. 

But  the  lawyers,  many  of  them,  said  he  was  overbearing  and 
arbitrary.  The  Chief  Justice  seized,  undoubtedly  with  wonder- 
ful facility,  the  great  points  of  a  case,  and  kept  the  counsel  close 
to  them.  He  never  allowed  an  advocate  to  make  a  speech,  and 
talk  against  time,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  displaying  his  rhetor- 
ical powers,  or  to  satisfy  his  clients  that  he  had  earned  his  fee  ; 
and  there  were,  doubtless,  instances  where,  in  his  opinion,  the 
justice  of  the  case  was  so  transparent,  that  he  would  not  waste 
the  time  of  the  public  in  listening  to  a  needless  argument  in  sup- 
port of  an  obviously  just  claim.  But  I  do  not  believe  that  he 
ever  refused  a  reasonable  and  patient  hearing  to  any  party  who 
maintained  a  doubtful,  or  even  a  manifestly  bad  cause. 

I  am  not  indeed  a  very  competent  judge  to  decide  the  ques- 
tion, but  I  have  always  supposed  that,  in  the  trial  of  nisi  prius 


180  MEMOIR  OF 

cases,  he  sat  on  the  Massachusetts  bench  unrivalled.  Many 
members  of  the  bar,  however,  were  unquestionably,  at  that 
period,  dissatisfied. 

I  have  heard  him  relate  an  incident  which  affected  himself 
professionallv,  and  which  occurred  in  his  early  practice,  as  show- 
ing the  effect  that  a  change  of  location  and  surrounding  objects 
might  produce  in  the  mental  powers  and  in  the  physical  sensa- 
tions. 

On  the  trial  of  a  capital  case  in  Boston,  Mr.  Parsons  had  been 
assigned  by  the  court  as  counsel  for  the  prisoner.  As  the  case 
had  awakened  considerable  interest  in  the  town,  it  was  found, 
soon  after  the  trial  began,  that  more  space  than  the  court-room 
afforded  would  be  necessary  to  accommodate  the  assemblage. 
The  court  was  accordingly  adjourned,  I  think  to  Faneuil  Hall. 
The  trial  proceeded,  and  when  Mr.  Parsons  rose  to  address  the 
jury  in  defence  of  the  prisoner,  the  total  disarrangement  of 
judges,  lawyers,  and  jury,  the  disruption  of  all  local  associations, 
and  the  entire  novelty  and  strangeness  of  the  whole  scene,  so 
disconcerted  him,  that  it  required  several  moments  of  painful 
effort  to  recover  his  lost  self-possession.  Many  years  afterwards, 
I  heard  the  late  Judge  Jackson  mention  a  somewhat  similar 
occurrence,  illustrating  the  operation  of  the  same  principle,  in 
a  case  of  his  own  professional  experience.  But  I  am  rather 
inclined  to  the  opinion,  that  neither  of  them  ever  had  the  disease 
a  second  time. 

His  high  professional  character  gave  him  great  celebrity  as  an 
instructor,  and  during  the  greater  part  of  his  residence  in  Xew- 
buryport  his  oflicc  was  usually  crowded  with  pupils  ;  indeed,  so 
much  so,  that,  as  I  have  been  told,  the  jealousy  of  the  bar  became 
awakened,  and  a  rule  was  adopted,  that  no  lawyer  should  have 
under  his  tuition  more  than  three  pupils  at  any  one  time,  with 
a  special  view  to  his  particular  case.  Of  course,  many  have 
entered  the  profession  through  the  doors  of  his  office. ;  among 
them,  a  few  of  most  distinguished  eminence.  Unfits  King  and 
John  Q.  Adams  are  names  prominent  on  the  page  of  history ; 
.Samuel  Putnam,  diaries  Jackson,  and  Benjamin  (Jorham  have 
done  honor  to  their  master,  and  also  to  Massachusetts;  and  a 
few  others,  whose  names  I  do  not  at  this  moment  call  to  mind. 
Tin;  greatest  distinction  wliich  is  likely  ever  to  be  attached  to 
one  of  his  pupils  is,  that  he  is  believed  to  be  the  sole  survivor  of 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  jgl 

all  those  who  have  shared  the  teachings  of  that  great  master,  — 
a  distinction  of  which  neither  time  nor  circumstance  can  deprive 
him.  Of  that  large  number,  all  but  the  writer  have  passed 
away,  and  in  a  short  time  his  exit  will  have  closed  the  pro- 
cession. 

I  have  thus,  my  dear  Sir,  tried  to  gather  up  a  few  scattered 
fragments  that  remain  of  my  fast-fading  recollections  of  your 
venerated  father.  In  the  lapse  of  sixty-five  years  since  I  first 
saw  him,  and  of  forty-three  since  his  lamented  decease,  I  have 
forgotten  most  things  that  I  ever  knew  ;  but  among  those  recol- 
lections that  will  be  the  last  to  forsake  me,  are  the  scenes  and 
pleasures  so  intimately  associated  with  that  large  portion  of  my 
life  spent  in  an  uninterrupted  and  harmonious  intercourse  with 
his  family,  and  which  was  so  often  brightened  by  the  sunshine  of 
his  own  superintending  presence. 

I  suppose  that  few  of  the  foregoing  incidents  or  opinions  can 
be  deemed  of  any  great  importance  to  your  undertaking ;  and 
those  which  are  so,  I  doubt  not,  are  already  familiar  to  you. 
They  arc  all  that  my  memory  can  furnish,  and  are  at  your  dis- 
posal, to  be  used  or  destroyed. 

Yours,  with  sincere  regard, 

CHARLES  P.  PIIELPS. 
Hartley,  April  2d,  1857. 

I  should  not  do  justice  to  my  father,  if  I  did  not  mention 
one  trait,  or  practice,  in  which  I  am  happy  to  say  he  did 
not  stand  alone  in  our  profession.  He  made  it  an  impera- 
tive rule,  from  which  he  never  swerved  during  his  whole 
professional  career,  never  to  make  any  charge  against,  or 
accept  any  fee  from,  a  widow,  or  a  minister  of  the  Gospel. 

Of  my  father's  contemporaries  at  the  bar,  I  suppose  that 
the  four  most  eminent  were  Sullivan,  Dexter,  Otis,  and 
Prescott. 

Governor  Sullivan  was  older  than  my  father.  He  died 
in  1808,  and  I  never  knew  him. 

Samuel  Dexter  was  eleven  years  younger.  He  died  in 
1816,  aged  fifty -four.  I  cannot  say  that  I  ever  knew  him 
personally.  I  have  seen  him,  however  ;  and  a  year  or  two 


182  MEMOIR  OF 

before  his  death  I  heard  him  make  a  speech  in  Faneuil 
Hall,  in  which  he  gave  his  reasons  for  not  supporting  the 
measures  of  the  Federal  party,  of  which,  to  that  hour,  he 
had  been  a  leader.  If  this  was  not  his  greatest  speech,  it 
was  one  of  the  greatest  ever  delivered  in  that  hall,  or,  as 
I  think,  anywhere.  Few  events  of  my  early  years  do  I 
remember  so  perfectly.  I  cannot  recall  the  line  of  argu- 
ment, but  the  tone  and  manner,  and  the  effect,  I  well 
remember.  There  was  nothing  in  it  of  apology,  nothing  of 
entreaty,  little  indeed  of  self-defence  ;  but  such  an  explana- 
tion of  his  conduct,  and  such  a  statement  of  his  princi- 
ples, as  a  man  might  make  to  his  fellow-citizens,  while 
he  respected  them,  and  was  determined  that  they  should 
respect  him.  As  I  recall  him,  it  docs  not  seem  to  me  that 
he  had  much  elegance,  or  even  eloquence,  of  language  or 
of  delivery  ;  but  that  the  whole  speech,  in  tone,  words, 
thoughts,  and  effect,  was  characterized  by  power.  He  did 
not  seem  to  persuade  men  to  believe  with  him,  but  to  com- 
pel them  to  see  that  as  truth  which  he  thought  to  be  true. 
I  suppose  he  was  not  a  scientific  lawyer,  —  not  one,  I  mean, 
acquainted  with  the  whole  system  of  the  law,  and  seeing 
every  part  in  the  light  of  all  the  rest.  But  he  was  a  very 
great  lawyer  in  rein  ;  for  he  brought  to  the  examination  of 
a  case  extraordinary  ability,  learning  enough  to  guide  his 
study,  and  thoi'ough  devotion  to  his  work.  As  an  advocate 
in  cases  which  demand  a  close  investigation  of  complicated 
facts  and  rules,  and  a  clear  perception  and  a  strong  hold 
of  the  guiding  principle  that  is  to  solve  the  problem  finally, 
and  then  the  power  to  carry  the  court  and  jury  with  him 
through  the  long  research  or  argument,  T  am  confident 
that  he  was  never  surpassed  in  New  England,  if  in  our 
country. 

From  Mr.  Dexter,  Mr.  Otis  differed  about  as  much  as  a 
man  could.  As  a  book-lawyer,  I  suppose  he  stood  on  a  par 
with  him.  Without  undertaking  to  say  which  of  the  two 
was  the  greater  advocate,  it  is  enough  that  no  common 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  183 

standard  could  be  applied  to  them,  unless  it  were  that  of 
success  ;  and  measured  by  this,  they  were  perhaps  equal,  for 
they  stood  together  in  the  foremost  rank  of  the  profession. 

Harrison  Gray  Otis  lived  until  1848,  then  dying  at  the 
age  of  eighty-three.  I  knew  him  long  and  well,  due  allow- 
ance being  made  for  the  difference  in  our  ages.  I  had  the 
good  fortune  to  hear  him  argue  his  last  case.  Some  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  years  ago,  long  after  he  had  retired  from  gen- 
eral practice,  he  had  an  important  action  of  his  own,  and 
argued  it  himself ;  and  I  listened  eagerly  to  every  word  he 
said.  It  was  something  unlike  in  kind  to  anything  else  I 
ever  heard.  The  winning  music  of  his  voice  made  the 
hearer  reluctant  to  lose  a  word ;  the  flow  of  his  language, 
which  was  as  charmingly  constructed  and  cadenced  as  if  it 
had  all  been  carefully  written  by  a  practised  writer ;  and 
the  persuasive  logic,  which  led  you  along  almost  uncon- 
sciously until  you  stood  in  the  very  position  in  which  he 
would  place  you,  —  in  each  and  all  of  these  he  was  unri- 
valled. And  to  all  these  was  added  their  strongest  charm, 
perhaps,  in  the  apparent  spontaneity  of  it  all.  There  was 
no  effort,  no  appearance  of  saying  or  doing  anything  in  any 
way  which  did  not  come  of  itself.  And  I  believed  then, 
and  I  believe  now,  that  this  was  not  apparent  only,  but 
real.  He  had,  if  ever  man  had,  the  gift  of  eloquence.  And 
all,  —  grace  of  delivery,  sweetness  of  tone,  beauty  of  illus- 
tration, perfect  taste  in  words,  and  rapidity  and  clearness  of 
thought,  —  all  blended  into  one,  flowed  on  like  a  river,  and 
the  hearer  was  borne  along  upon  the  rapid  stream,  not  con- 
scious of  its  power,  and  not  resisting  it. 

This  may  seem,  and  may  be,  the  extravagant  picture  of 
a  laudator  temporis  actl.  Let  me  state,  however,  that  by 
my  side  there  sat  a  gentleman  who  had  not  reached  his  own 
foremost  place  in  our  profession  without  knowing  as  well 
as  any  one  what  were  the  elements  of  successful  speech,  — 
I  hope  I  do  not  offend  against  social  courtesies  when  I 
name  Judge  Fletcher,  —  and  he  turned  to  me,  as  Mr.  Otis 


184  MEMOIR  OF 

closed,  with  the  whispered  remark  :  "  There  is  nothing  like 
this  now." 

From  these  'two  men  William  Prescott  differed  as  much 
as  they  differed  from  each  other.  He  confined  himself  to 
his  profession  far  more  than  either  Dexter  or  Otis,  and  for 
many  years  stood,  by  universal  consent,  at  its  head.  Some 
six  years  ago,  I  published  a  Treatise  on  the  Law  of  Con- 
tracts ;  and  in  a  dedication  to  my  friend,  W.  II.  Prescott, 
I  indulged  myself  with  saying  a  very  little  of  what  I  gladly 
would  have  said  of  his  revered  father.  I  said  it  then,  be- 
cause it  was  my  first  opportunity  to  discharge  this  duty. 
And  I  repeat  it  now,  because  none  outside  of  my  profession 
have  ever  seen  it,  and,  in  a  memoir  of  my  father,  I  feel 
justified  in  saying  of  one  of  his  most  valued  friends  what  I 
am  sure  he  would  wish  me  to  say. 

To  WILLIAM  II.  PRESCOTT,  ESQ.,  THE  HISTORIAN  OF  SPAIX, 
MEXICO,  AXD  PERU. 

1  might,  perhaps,  find  some  excuse  for  dedicating  this  work  to 
you,  in  the  natural  desire  of  connecting  my  own  labors  with 
those  which  have  won  for  you  and  for  our  country  so  much 
renown ;  and  even  more  in  the  friendship  which  began  so  long 
ago  we  cannot  remember  its  beginning  ;  and  in  the  long  years 
that,  through  childhood,  youth,  and  manhood,  have  brought  us 
upon  the  confines  of  age,  if  not  beyond  them,  has  never  for  a 
moment  been  broken. 

But  neither  of  these  is  iny  principal  motive.  That  I  must 
confess  to  be  a  strong  and  irrepressible  desire  to  speak  of  your 
father ;  to  express,  however  imperfectly,  my  gratitude  to  him  ; 
and  to  execute,  even  in  this  slight  degree,  the  purpose  I  have 
long  had,  of  putting  on  record  my  testimony  to  the  excellence  of 
one  who  stood  for  many  years  at  the  head  of  his  profession,  who 
was  my  master  during  my  apprenticeship  to  the  law,  and  ever 
after  my  revered  instructor  and  invaluable  friend. 

It  was  in  1815  that  I  entered  his  office  as  a  student,  I  had 
been  accustomed  all  my  lite  to  sec  him  often,  and  hear  him  often 
spoken  of,  for  our  families  were  intimate,  and  he  was  among  my 
father's  most  valued  friends ;  and  I  had  always  heard  him  men- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  135 

tioncd  with  a  kind  and  degree  of  respect  that  seemed  to  be  paid 
to  him  alone.  I  knew  that  he  had  held  the  highest  place  in  his 
profession  for  some  years  ;  but  the  regard  and  reverence  gen- 
erally accorded  to  him  were  more  than  any  mere  professional 
success  could  win.  When  I  entered  his  office,  he  had  already 
given  vip  a  large  part  of  his  business.  He  did  not  go  often  into 
court ;  but  I  heard  him  in  some  important  cases,  and  was  a  con- 
stant observer  of  the  relations  between  him  and  his  numerous 
clients.  It  was  not  long  before  I  learned  the  grounds  of  his  high 
social  and  professional  position. 

In  the  first  place,  let  me  speak  of  his  judgment  and  sagacity. 
I  cannot  conceive  of  any  person  possessing,  in  greater  perfection, 
that  admirable  thing  we  call  good  sense.  I  doubt  whether,  in  his 
long  and  active  life,  he  ever  made  any  one  mistake  of  impor- 
tance. Whoever  employed  him  in  any  business,  soon  saw  that 
the  wisest  thing  that  could  be  done  in  his  case,  and  at  every  step 
of  it,  was  always  the  very  thing  that  was  done.  Hence  a  con- 
fidence without  limit  was  reposed  in  his  opinions  ;  and  his  advice 
was  accepted  and  followed  by  all  who  received  it,  as  if  it  made 
farther  inquiry  or  consideration  wholly  unnecessary. 

The  next  quality  I  would  mention  was  a  kindred  and  con- 
nected one  ;  I  mean  his  perfect  truthfulness.  It  seemed  as  if  he 
could  not  deceive  ;  and  if  he  had  the  faculty  originally,  he  must 
have  lost  it  by  non-user.  It  made  no  difference  on  which  side  of 
a  question  the  party  propounding  it  to  him  stood  ;  for  his  answer 
was  to  the  question,  and  not  to  the  man.  Whether  he  dealt 
with  a  client,  an  adverse  party,  a  witness,  the  jury,  or  the  court, 
he  dealt  with  them  all  honestly.  He  had  what  I  am  sorry  to 
call  the  rare  quality  of  loving  truth  so  well,  that  his  view  of  it 
was  not  to  be  distorted  or  obstructed  by  any  interest  or  any 
feeling  either  of  his  own  or  of  those  whom  he  represented,  or 
by  any  disturbing  influences  of  circumstances  or  position. 

I  speak  last  of  his  learning,  although  this  was  perhaps  more 
frequently  remarked  upon  than  his  moral  qualities,  however 
deeply  these  were  felt.  He  had  passed  many  years  in  laborious 
and  well-directed  study ;  for  he  was  led  to  this,  both  by  his  sense 
of  duty  to  his  clients,  and  by  his  sagacity,  which  told  him  that 
here  he  must  find  the  means  of  sound  judgment  and  usefulness 
and  success ;  and  also  by  the  love  of  his  profession  and  of  the 
law  as  a  science.  For  many  years  after  he  had  withdrawn  from 


186  MEMOIR  OF 

the  profession,  both  as  advocate  and  chamber  counsel,  he  still 
continued  his  legal  studies ;  and  often  when  I  have  called  upon 
him  and  stated  some  difficult  question  which  had  occurred  in 
my  practice,  he  would  —  not  for  a  fee,  but  in  his  kindness  to  me, 
and  his  love  of  the  law  —  enter  upon  the  investigation  with  the 
zeal  of  earlier  days,  and  give  me  the  whole  benefit  of  his  vast 
knowledge  and  his  unerring  sagacity. 

To  those  qualities  I  must  add  that  of  universal  kindness  and 
unfailing  courtesy.  And  certainly  I  have  given  good  reasons 
whv  he  held  so  long  the  headship  of  a  profession  in  which  it  is 
not  easy  to  climb  to  the  high  places,  and  very  difficult  to  hold 
them  ;  and  also  why,  outside  of  his  profession  and  by  society  at 
large,  he  was  venerated  during  his  long  life  as  few  men  among 
us  have  ever  been.  Let  me  add,  that,  while  he  manifested, 
wherever  in  the  conduct  of  his  affairs  it  was  needed,  the  firmness 
and  fearlessness  that  he  inherited  from  a  father  who  stood  like  a 
tower  of  strength  in  command  of  the  American  forces  at  Bunker 
Hill,  he  was  ever,  and  remarkably,  unassuming,  retiring,  and 
modest.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  he  could  not  measure  his 
own  success,  or  that  he  did  not  know  his  high  position  ;  but  no 
one  ever  heard  a  word  or  a  tone  from  him  which  indicated  such 
knowledge. 

lie  was  not  eloquent,  and  never,  to  my  knowledge,  attempted 
to  be  ;  and  yet  he  was  a  most  successful  advocate.  It  was  his 
purpose  and  endeavor  to  do  for  every  client,  and  in  every  case, 
all  that  could  be  done  by  learning,  sense,  industry,  and  honesty ; 
this  he  knew  he  could  do,  and  did.  And  more  than  this  he  had 
no  desire  to  do. 

Such  was  William  Prescott.  When  he  died,  in  1844,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-two,  I  had  known  him  intimately  for  twenty-nine 
years,  and  had  known  of  him  many  more.  And  I  never  yet 
heard  a  word  spoken,  and  I  never  heard  of  a,  word  s]x>ken,  to  his 
disparagement  or  dispraise,  during  his  long  life  or  since  its  close, 
by  any  person  whomsoever 5  not  even  have  I  heard  the  "but" 
or  '"if"  with  which  many  indulge  themselves  in  qualifying  and 
clouding  the  commendation  they  cannot  but  render.  lie  has  left 
behind  him  no  brilliant  speeches  to  be  remembered  and  quoted  ; 
no  books  in  which  the  fruits  of  his  learning  and  wisdom  were 
gathered  and  preserved  ;  and  they  who  knew  him  are  passing 
away,  and  already  his  reputation  is  becoming  traditional.  And 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PAESONS.  137 

very  glad  shall  I  be,  if,  by  this  slight  memorial,  I  may  for  a 
single  moment  arrest  the  waves  of  time,  in  their  advancing  flow 
over  the  sands  in  which  are  written  his  name,  and  the  names  of 
many  others  of  our  best  and  greatest. 

THEOPIIILUS  PAKSONS. 


I  must  close  this  chapter  in  a  sadder  strain.  'While  these 
pages  were  passing  through  the  press,  William  llickling 
Prescott,  on  Friday,  the  28th  of  January,  1859,  was  sud- 
denly stricken  with  apoplexy,  and,  after  a  few  hours  of  un- 
consciousness, he  died. 

As  I  speak  in  this  volume  of  his  father,  by  reprinting 
what  I  wrote  of  him  for  another  purpose,  so  I  nowr  venture 
to  repeat  here  what  I  said  of  Prescott  at  a  meeting  of  the 
American  Academy,  on  the  evening  of  the  8th  of  February, 
1859.  The  newspapers  which  contained  the  proceedings  of 
that  meeting,  gave  to  them  a  far  wider  cii-culation  than 
these  pages  will  have.  But  I  cannot  deny  myself  the 
solace  of  placing,  permanently,  in  my  own  book,  this  feeble, 
but  most  sincere,  tribute  to  one  whose  death  took  from  me 
what  nothing  in  this  world  can  replace. 

"  When  you  intimated  to  me,  Mr.  President,  your  wrish 
that  I  should  say  a  few  words  on  the  topic  Avhich  wrill  occupy 
us  this  evening,  it  was  difficult  to  assent,  but  impossible  to 
refuse.  I  know  not  in  what  words  to  speak  of  Prescott. 
He  was  my  oldest  friend,  —  the  last  friend  of  my  boyhood. 
Our  fathers  Avere  intimate  friends,  and  their  intimacy  fell 
to  us  as  an  inheritance.  His  genial  face,  and  that  cor- 
dial manner,  which  was  but  the  transparent  vesture  of  his 
constant  kindness,  I  shall  meet  no  more.  But  this  is  not 
the  place  in  which  to  speak  of  my  personal  relations  with 
him.  Nor  need  I  add  my  testimony  to  the  universal  recog- 
nition of  the  ability,  the  industry,  the  accurate  learning, 
the  admirable  judgment,  and  the  perfect  taste,  which  have 


188  MEMOIR   OF 

placed  him  at  the  head  of  our  literature,  and  made  him  our 
pride. 

"There  was,  however,  one  peculiarity  in  his  character, 
which  I  have  studied  carefully,  and  have  not  as  yet  seen 
fully  noticed  by  any  one  of  the  many  Avho  have  spoken  of 
him  ;  and  I  should  be  glad  to  say  a  few  words  in  relation 
to  it.  I  refer  to  the  blending  in  him  of  qualities  which  are 
usuallv  regarded,  not  only  as  opposites,  but  as  antagonists, 
and  as  mutually  destructive. 

"On  the  one  hand,  he  was  by  nature  tender,  sensitive, 
and  impressible.  I  never  knew  a  person  who  had  so  much 
capacity  for  enjoyment ;  and  I  never  knew  one  who  had  a 
greater  love  for  it.  And  this  was  universal.  It  seemed  as 
if  he  were  alive  to  all  the  emotions,  and  possessed  all  the 
sensibilities,  which  are  divided  among  other  men,  and  in 
their  division  constitute  the  means  of  happiness  for  each. 
And  I  will  add,  that  he  was  naturally  as  susceptible  as  any 
one  could  be,  of  every  curled  rose-leaf  that  threatened  to 
mar  his  enjoyment. 

"  But,  on  the  other  hrtnd,  this  man  had  an  iron  will ;  before 
his  invincible  energy,  obstacles  which  to  others  would  have 
seemed,  and  would  have  been,  insurmountable,  melted  away. 
By  his  strength  of  purpose,  obstructions  were  converted  into 
helps.  He  had  a  resolute  and  unflinching  self-control  and 
self-restraint,  and  an  unfailing  power  of  self-government, 
upon  which  he  knew  that  he  could  depend,  and  on  which  he 
did  depend,  always  advancing,  never  losing  a  step  that  he 
had  gained,  and  never  doubting  that  he  should  gain  the 
next,  until  at  length  he  stood  upon  the  eminence  which 
from  the  beginning  had  been  his  goal,  and  upon  which 
death  found  him. 

'•  It  has  seemed  to  me  that  these  qualities  concealed  each 
other,  even  from  many  who  knew  him.  They  who  were  most 
assured  that  he  had  won  his  high  position  by  a  stern  devo- 
tion to  his  own  lofty  aims,  and  by  unexampled  force  of  char- 
acter, sometimes  imagined  that  such  a  man  could  not  be 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  jgO 

sincere  in  liis  ready  sympathy  with  all,  in  his  full  enjoy- 
ment of  common  pleasures,  in  the  cordiality  with  which 
he  came  forward  to  meet  all  Avho  approached  him,  in  the 
smile  which  made  all  who  saw  it  believe  that  he  was  happi- 
est when  he  could  make  others  happy;  and  it  seemed  to 
them  as  if  this  must  be  only  a  thin  varnish,  a  mask  of  cour- 
tesy, which  his  knowledge  of  the  world  taught  him  to  wear. 

"  Nothing,  nothing,  could  be  more  untrue.  Believe  me, 
Mr.  President,  when  I  say  that  an  experience  of  more  than 
fifty  years  justifies  my  assertion,  that  it  was  out  of  the 
abundance  of  his  full  and  overflowing  heart,  that  his  mouth 
spake  his  many  words  of  kindness.  And  they  who  were 
certain  of  this,  —  who  saw  him  day  after  day,  entering  with 
as  ready  gladness  into  all  social  pleasures  as  if  he  were  the 
merest  idler,  and  giving  himself  up  to  the  enjoyment  of  the 
hour  as  if  he  had  no  other  use  for  his  time  but  to  give  it 
wings,  —  they  found  it  difficult  to  believe  that  there  was  not 
something  of  unreality  in  his  world-wide  fame ;  or  that 
something  of  accident  had  not  helped  him  in  his  extraordi- 
nary career ;  or  that  his  unconquerable  will  had  fairly  paid 
for  his  great  success  the  full  price  of  severe  labor,  of  effort, 
and  of  sacrifice.  As  difficult  as  it  might  be  for  one  who 
looks  on  a  mountain  clothed  with  beauty  and  fruitfulness 
from  its  foot  to  its  summit,  —  its  flowers  breathing  fragrance, 
and  its  foliage  bending  to  the  summer  wind,  —  to  remem- 
ber while  he  looks,  that  its  framework  and  substance  are 
of  the  everlasting  granite  that  bids  defiance  to  accident  and 
to  the  assault  of  the  tempest. 

"  Prescott  will  ever  give  a  valuable  lesson  to  all  who  knew 
him,  and  to  all  who,  without  knowing  him,  form  a  just  idea 
of  him,  —  and  they  must  be  many,  for  surely  History  will 
long  love  to  speak  of  him,  —  and  this  lesson  will  be,  that  all 
of  a  man's  nature  may  be  cultivated  and  exercised  and  in- 
dulged and  enjoyed,  if  only  all  its  faculties  and  tendencies 
are  duly  arranged  and  subordinated.  These  two  elements 
of  character  of  which  I  have  spoken  did  not  merely  co- 


190  MEMOIR  OF 

exist  in  him,  but  co-operated.  If  either  had  been  absent,  or 
either  had  been  less,  he  never  would  have  done  all  that  he 
has  done.  Every  one  admits,  that,  without  his  unyielding 
energy  and  his  invincible  endurance,  he  could  not  have 
accomplished  his  great  works,  in  defiance  of  the  great  obsta- 
cles which  cumbered  his  path.  I  am  quite  as  sure,  that 
even  this  energy  and  this  endurance  would  have  failed  and 
fainted,  if  they  had  not  been  constantly  invigorated,  and 
refreshed,  and  filled  with  new  life,  by  his  exquisite  sensi- 
bility to  all  innocent  enjoyment. 

"  Let  no  one  who  would  pluck  a  leaf  of  laurel  from  the 
topmost  bough,  imagine  that  he  must  nurse  his  strength  for 
this  achievement  by  the  sacrifice  and  suppression  of  what- 
ever in  him  is  sympathetic  and  sensitive  and  responsive  to 
others.  Let  Prescott  tell  him  how  all  the  gifts  of  a  rich 
nature  may  be  kept  in  full  life,  and  may  invigorate  each 
other.  Let  Prescott  remind  him,  that  there  was  a  laborious 
student,  whose  hours  of  toil  nothing  was  permitted  to  inter- 
rupt, and  whose  determined  industry  nothing  was  permitted 
to  abate,  and  yet  whose  companionship  was  sought  as  no 
other  man's  was  ;  because,  when  the  hour  for  labor  had 
passed,  he  went  forth  among  his  friends  like  sunshine,  and 
filled  them  Avith  sympathetic  gladness  from  his  own  joyous 
nature. 

'•  We  sometimes  hear  it  said  that  a  man  has  succeeded  in 
some  great  effort  because  he  put  his  whole  soul  into  it. 
This  would  be  true  of  Prescott  in  its  ordinary  meaning, 
which  is  only  that  he  succeeded  by  enthusiastic  labor.  But 
it  is  true  of  him  in  a  more  definite,  and,  as  I  think,  in  a 
higher  sense.  If  I  were  asked  to  give  in  the  fewest  words 
the  explanation  of  his  career,  I  should  say  that  he  did  great 
things  in  despite  of  great  difficulties,  because  he  was  richly 
endowed  with  many  and  various  qualities  and  faculties,  and 
in  all  his  work  the  whole  man  worked  together,  with  a  har- 
mony which  gave  to  every  faculty  the  support  and  the 
strength  of  all  the  rest." 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  191 

Further  I  did  not  go,  and  could  not  go,  that  evening ;  but 
now  I  will  advert  to  still  other  instances  of  apparent  incon- 
gruity. His  facility  of  utterance,  and  perfect  openness  of 
face  and  words  and  demeanor,  concealed  from  others,  not 
only  his  inner  thoughts  and  feelings,  but  even  the  fact  that 
he  had  them.  Those  who  met  him  familiarly  in  society  did 
not  know,  that,  with  all  his  seeming  carelessness  of  speech, 
there  was  a  reticence  and  reserve  about  him,  which  covered 
with  an  impenetrable  veil  that  part  of  his  nature  which  he 
chose  should  remain  inaccessible.  Thus,  to  those  who  judged 
only  from  appearances,  he  seemed  to  be  a  worldly  man,  —  for 
who  ever  laid  a  stronger  grasp  upon  the  world,  or  upon  whom 
did  it  ever  lay  a  stronger  grasp  !  And  yet  within  this  seem- 
ing worldliness  there  lived  a  profound,  constant,  and  opera- 
tive religious  sentiment.  Many,  even  of  his  nearest  friends, 
who  knew  his  general  habit  of  self-examination,  may  still 
be  surprised  to  learn,  that  this  favorite  of  society,  who  loved 
it  as  well  as  it  loved  him,  for  more  than  thirty  years  had  one 
invariable  rule,  in  obedience  to  which,  every  Sunday,  as  the 
day  came  round,  he  had  his  hour  of  seclusion  and  privacy, 
and  employed  it  in  a  careful  examination  of  the  Avhole  pre- 
ceding week,  from  its  first  to  its  last  hour.  lie  sought, 
by  this  investigation,  to  know  where  he  had  been  wrong  or 
weak ;  what  purpose  needed  to  be  strengthened,  or  what 
new  resolution  to  be  formed,  that  the  past  might  throw  a 
guiding  light  upon  the  future.  I  regard  this  as  one  of  the 
causes  of  his  continued  improvement,  of  his  unfaltering  pro- 
gress, in  all  his  relations,  as  a  scholar,  or  to  his  family,  to 
his  friends,  and  to  society ;  or,  in  simpler  words,  —  for  I 
would  not  be  mistaken  here,  —  I  think  this  one  of  the 
causes,  that,  on  the  one  hand,  his  last  volume  was  his  best, 
as  by  common  consent  it  is;  and,  on  the  other,  that  Avith 
every  succeeding  year  he  became  a  better  man. 

They  Avho  know  my  relations  Avith  him  Avill  understand 
my  desire  to  present  this  portraiture  of  my  friend  ;  and  they 
Avho  do  not,  will,  I  hope,  pardon  it,  for  the  sake  of  the  in- 
struction and  the  influence  of  such  an  example. 


192  MEMOIR  OF 


CHAPTER  V. 

OF  HIM  AS  A  JUDGE. 

IN  1806,  Chief  Justice  Dana,  upon  whom  the  infirmities 
of  advancing  age  had  begun  to  press  heavily,  resigned  the 
office  which  he  had  filled  most  honorably  and  usefully  for 
fourteen  years. 

A  generation  had  passed  away  since  the  Commonwealth 
had  become  independent ;  and  during  all  that  time,  its  judi- 
cial affairs  had  been  in  a  somewhat  confused  and  troubled 
condition.  The  royal  authoi'ity  was  lost.  Its  power  and 
pressure  were  taken  away,  and  had  not  been  adequately  re- 
placed. The  turmoil  and  strife  of  the  Revolution  had  inju- 
riously affected  the  bar.  There  were  a,  few  able  and  well- 
instructed  men  ;  but  the  great  majority  were  not  so.  The 
seniors  got  through  their  business  somehow,  and  the  juniors 
saw  little  in  their  example  to  incite  them  to  more  diligent 
study ;  and  out  of  the  largest  towns  this  was  scarcely  possi- 
ble, for  want  of  the  necessary  books.  A  system  of  costs, 
founded  on  mere  delay,  had  grown  up,  which  made  delay 
profitable.  The  prevailing  party  was  allowed  for  his  attend- 
ance upon  the  court  thirty-three  cents  a  day.  This  was 
moderate  in  amount,  and  just  in  principle  while  confined  to 
actual  attendance.  But  in  practice  every  party  was  consid- 
ered as  attending  every  day,  because  his  attorney  was  or 
might  be  there.  Hence  a  lawyer  in  large  practice,  although 
his  business  might  be  merely  that  of  collecting  debts,  made 
a  large  income.  If  he  had  fifty  cases  in  court,  he  was  re- 
ceiving $  10. GO  every  day  while  the  court  sat.  Some  made 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  193 

this  number  of  entries  at  every  term  ;  and  as  the  cases  were 
kept  as  long  in  court  as  could  easily  be  done,  they  would 
have  a  very  large  number  continually  running  up  their 
costs.  Here  was  an  obvious  inducement,  not  only  to  make 
the  terms  as  long  as  possible,  but  also  to  keep  the  cases  in 
court  as  long  as  possible.  This  injurious  system  remained  in 
force  until  a  few  years  since.  In  this  way,  and  from  other 
causes  also,  the  courts  found  it  very  difficult  to  accelerate 
their  business,  and  impracticable  to  bring  the  lawyers  to  any 
great  accuracy  of  procedure ;  and  the  right  and  prevailing 
habit  of  appeal,  which  caused  most  cases  of  any  interest  to 
be  tried  two  or  three  times,  added  to  the  mischief.  A 
lax,  irresponsible,  and  dilatory  course  of  procedure  had  be- 
come established,  which  crowded  the  dockets  so  that  no 
business  could  be  done  that  Avas  not  old  and  stale.  But  it 
gave  to  a  few  leaders  of  the  bar  almost  despotic  power,  and 
at  the  same  time  furnished  sufficient  profits  to  the  lawyers 
who  aimed  at  nothing  more  than  to  collect  debts  and  get 
bills  of  costs.  It  pressed,  however,  severely  on  the  business 
of  the  community ;  and  the  people  felt,  although  they  might 
not  distinctly  see,  the  abuses  under  which  they  suffered ;  nor 
did  they  discern  any  effectual  remedy. 

When  Chief  Justice  Dana  resigned,  the  remaining  judges, 
ranking  in  order  of  seniority,  were  Theodore  Sedgwick, 
Samuel  Sewall,  George  Thatcher,  and  Isaac  Parker.  Judge 
Sedgwick,  according  to  the  ordinary  procedure,  had  some 
right  to  expect  promotion  to  the  Chief-Justiceship ;  and  this 
right  was  strengthened  by  the  acknowledged  fact  that  he 
was  an  eminent  jurist,  had  been  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  in  Congress,  and  was  generally  and 
rightly  regarded  as  among  the  ablest  men  of  the  State. 
Judge  Parker  was  appointed  in  December,  1805.  From 
his  knowledge  of  the  practice  at  the  bar  in  Maine,  confirmed 
by  a  year's  experience  as  a  judge,  he  Avas  profoundly  con- 
vinced that  errors,  not  to  say  abuses,  existed,  which  impera- 
tively demanded  reform,  and  which  an  entirely  new  man 
13 


194  MEMOIR  OF 

•would  find  it  easier  to  reform.  He  was  holding  court  (at 
Ipswich  I  think,  in  Essex  County  I  am  sure),  when  he 
first  learned  that  Chief  Justice  Dana  intended  to  resign. 
He  that  evening  rode  over  to  Marblehead,  and  conferred 
with  Judge  Sewall,  who  lived  there,  and  who  thought  as 
he  did  on  this  subject.  It  was  determined  that  Sewall 
should  go  the  next  day  to  Boston,  and  represent  to  Governor 
Strong,  that,  if  my  father  could  be  appointed  at  once,  with- 
out consulting  him,  every  exertion  would  be  made  to  per- 
suade him  to  accept  the  office,  even  if  he  took  it  for  a  short 
time  only.  And  the  appointment  was  made  at  once. 

Before  going  further,  let  me  say  that  Judge  Sedgwick, 
although  at  first  hurt  and  disappointed,  became  convinced 
that  no  disrespect  was  intended  him,  that  his  personal  merit 
was  fully  acknowledged,  and  that  there  was  a  general  and 
strong  desire  that  he  should  retain  his  place  upon  the  bench  ; 
and  he  consented  to  do  so.  Although  I  think  he  was  never 
so  well  satisfied  with  my  father's  proceedings  as  a  judge 
as  were  the  other  members  of  the  court,  the  relations  be- 
tween them  were  always  entirely  friendly. 

From  the  tenor  of  some  remarks  in  the  newspapers  of 
the  day,  and  from  all  that  I  have  heard,  I  believe  there  was 
much  surprise  felt  when  my  father  accepted  the  office.  lie 
had  a  large  family,  was  not  rich,  and  was  then  in  full  prac- 
tice, earning  in  the  year  before  he  left  practice  about  ten 
thousand  dollar?,  which,  for  those  days,  was  a  larger  sum  in 
its  indications,  and  perhaps  in  its  value,  than  twice  the 
amount  would  be  now.  lie  had  always  shown  an  aversion 
to  oflic'c,  and  a  love  for  home  and  privacy,  which  seemed  to 
grow  with  his  years.  But  it  is  not  diilicult  to  see  some  of 
the  reasons  which  induced  him  to  comply  with  the  earnest 
solicitations  that  came  to  him  from  many  quarters. 

In  the  first  place,  I  incline  to  believe  that  he  already  con- 
templated leaving  court  practice,  and  confining  himself  to 
giving  chamber  cminsi-1,  and  to  the  decision  of  questions 
referred  to  him.  lie  had  reason  to  suppose  that  this  prac- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  195 

tice  would  be  sufficiently  remunerative.  Among  the  papers 
I  still  have,  are  letters  showing  that  his  opinion  and  advice 
were  called  for  frequently  from  distant  regions  of  the  coun- 
try, as  well  as  from  all  parts  of  New  England.  I  believe 
he  thought  it  might  be  easier  to  break  off  from  court  prac- 
tice at  once,  by  going  on  the  bench ;  as  he  could  leave 
office  when  he  chose  to  do  so,  and  place  himself  in  a  posi- 
tion for  whatever  chamber  practice  might  come. 

I  add,  that  his  personal  friends  urged  him  to  take  the 
office,  doubting  whether  he  would  break  off  from  bar  busi- 
ness in  any  other  way,  and  believing  that  the  change  of 
employment,  the  travelling,  and  the  diminished  labor  would 
be  beneficial  to  his  health,  which  threatened  to  fail. 

But  by  far  the  strongest  motives  with  him,  as  I  have 
abundant  evidence,  arose  from  his  clear  perception  of  that 
need  of  some  reform  in  the  courts  to  which  I  have  already 
alluded,  —  his  belief  that  he  could  effect  this  reform,  and  his 
desire  to  do  it.  Nor  can  I  exhibit  the  full  strength  of  these 
motives  without  stating  at  some  length  what  I  suppose  were 
his  views  on  this  subject. 

My  father's  attention  had  been  very  much  drawn  to  the 
theory  of  the  Constitution.  "We  have  already  seen  how 
prominent  he  had  been  in  the  discussions  and  conflicts 
which  took  place  in  reference  to  the  state  and  national  con- 
stitutions ;  and,  with  his  tendencies  and  habits  of  mind,  we 
may  be  certain  that  he  had  exerted  whatever  strength  he 
had,  to  comprehend  the  whole  truth  in  reference  to  this  great 
subject,  even  to  its  foundations.  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  he  formed  an  opinion  in  relation  to  the  judicial  depart- 
ment of  government,  which  might  now  be  thought  extreme, 
and  certainly  would  not  be  popular.  But  it  was  accepted  in 
his  own  day,  and  if  in  this  generation  we  have  learned  to 
think  otherwise,  it  may  be  that  coming  events  will  prove  to 
us,  or  to  our  children,  the  greater  wisdom  of  our  fathers. 

It  was,  as  I  suppose,  (and  on  this  point  I  might  refer,  to 
some  extent,  to  documentary  evidence,)  his  belief,  that  the 


196  MEMOIR   OF 

success  of  the  great  political  experiment  to  be  tried  here 
would  depend  very  much  upon  the  degree  in  which  the 
three  great  elements  of  government  were  kept  each  within 
its  proper  sphere,  and  within  that  sphere  were  respected 
and  supported.  The  Constitution  was  a  prior  fact,  on 
which,  as  on  a  prepared  foundation,  the  whole  government 
rested.  It  was  law,  but  law  made  by  the  whole  people.  It 
was  intended  to  be  sovereign  over  all  other  law,  and  to 
secure  at  once  perfection  of  form  and  fulness  of  life  to 
the  body  politic,  and  wise  guidance  and  well  defined  and 
guarded  limitations  to  all  the  powers  of  the  government. 
While,  of  these  powers  it  was  the  proper  function  to  bear 
that  life  forward,  and  promote  its  healthy  flow,  even  to  the 
remotest  and  most  recondite  corners  of  the  social  fabric. 

Hence,  legislatures  were  to  meet  often,  and  adapt  exist- 
ing and  practical  law  to  all  the  wants  and  capacities  of  soci- 
ety, as  far  as  possible,  but  always  in  exact  conformity  with 
the  requirements  and  restraints  of  the  fundamental  law. 

Then  the  executive,  beginning  with-  the  governor  and 
ending  with  the  constable,  was  to  enforce  and  carry  into  full 
effect  all  the  laws  which  the  legislature  should  make ;  but 
always  with  the  same  controlling  power  to  set  limits  to  its 
action. 

And  then  came  the  judicial  power,  originating  nothing, 
executing  nothing,  unless  so  far  as  it  must  do  either  of  these 
things  indirectly  by  the  mere  process  of  judging,  but  ex- 
hausting its  whole  capacity  and  fulfilling  all  its  mission  in 
two  forms.  In  one,  with  reference  to  individuals,  it  declares 
aright  what  the  law  requires,  and  what  it  forbids ;  in  the 
other,  in  reference  to  those  other  elements  of  political 
power  which,  together  Avith  itself,  constitute  all  government, 
its  great  duty  is  to  guard  them  from  excess  or  error,  to 
keep  them  in  the  right  path,  and  prevent,  as  far  as  possible, 
all  mischief  from  their  wanderings,  by  declaring  null,  and 
making  null,  whatever  either  of  them  should  do  outside  of 
the  scope  and  field  provided  for  it  by  the  Constitution. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  197 

Thus  far  I  have  said  little  more  than  everybody  says  ; 
and  to  say  that  my  father  thought  thus,  is  only  to  say  that 
he  thought  as  everybody  thought.  But  I  add,  —  and  it 
seems  to  me  a  great  addition,  —  he  thought  and  believed 
these  things  honestly  and  earnestly.  He  was  profoundly 
penetrated  with  their  truth,  and  lost  no  opportunity  of  de- 
claring and  illustrating  it. 

Few  persons,  as  it  seems  to  me,  appreciate  the  vital  im- 
portance of  the  judicial  functions  in  a  republic.  Let  the 
constitution  be  as  perfect  as  any  work  of  man  can  be,  it  will 
have  no  power  of  self-protection ;  and  the  executive  and 
the  legislature  will  constantly  require  to  be  kept  within  its 
limits  by  some  controlling  power. 

Even  if  the  laws  are  all  they  should  be,  they  must 
be  clothed  in  human  language,  and  therefore  must  often 
need  wise  interpretation.  And  the  inexhaustible  and  ever- 
shifting  complications  of  human  life  continually  demand  that 
these  laws  should  be  adjusted  anew,  that  they  may  respond 
to  new  questions  and  adapt  themselves  to  new  conditions, 
and  bring  the  new  forms  and  arrangements,  which  are  con- 
stantly taking  place  among  the  commercial  and  the  social 
relations  of  men,  into  harmony  with  existing  law. 

Then,  too,  after  all  this  is  done,  there  remains  the  inces- 
sant duty  of  so  visiting  the  crimes,  so  ending  the  quarrels, 
and  so  determining  the  rights  and  enforcing  the  obligations 
of  all  persons,  that  the  community  may  repose  under  the 
conviction  that  wrong  is  reduced  within  its  least  limits,  and 
that  the  prevalence  of  right  secures  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  the  Commonwealth. 

To  all  this  it  must  be  added,  that  the  love  of  precedent 
and  stability,  which  comes  to  us  by  inheritance  from  our 
Anglo-Saxon  ancestors,  gives  to  judicial  decisions  an  author- 
ity almost  like  that  of  law  itself ;  and  thus  compels  the 
judiciary  to  discharge  important  functions,  which  closely 
resemble,  to  say  the  least,  those  of  a  legislative  body. 

This  faint  portraiture  of  the  work  which  the  judiciary 


198  MEMOIR  OF 

must  do,  —  which  will  not  be  done  unless  they  do  it,  and 
will  be  done  well  or  ill  as  they  may  do  it,  —  faint  and  im- 
perfect as  it  is,  may  show  that  a  state  should  provide  with 
the  utmost  solicitude  all  those  means  which  will  place  upon 
the  seats  of  justice  those  persons  who  are  best  qualified 
to  fill  them  ;  and  regard  their  independence  and  their 
purity  as  the  safeguards  of  the  state,  and  protect  them 
equally  from  assault  and  from  temptation  ;  and  give  to 
their  hands  all  the  strength  their  high  functions  demand, 
because  this  will  be  only  the  strength  of  the  state,  used  for 
its  own  defence  and  security.  And,  finally,  that  no  care 
and  no  wisdom  are  more  than  should  be  given  to  the  great 
purpose  of  securing  to  the  state  its  best  possible  judiciary, 
and  that  no  necessary  cost  can  be  more  than  an  adequate 
price  for  this  inestimable  good. 

When  a  republic,  as  free  from  all  external  control  as  our 
own,  has  passed  its  meridian,  and  begins  to  decline,  the  first 
and  the  surest  signs  of  this  descent  will  be  that  the  judiciary 
will  lose  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  people,  and  will 
in  some  way  deserve  to  lose  it.  The  people  themselves 
may  undervalue  the  worth  and  magnitude  of  judicial  duty, 
and  the  absolute  necessity  of  preserving  the  independence 
of  those  upon  whom  this  duty  rests. 

It  is  most  true  that  the  judiciary  should  be  personally 
responsible  to  the  people.  But  the  people,  seeing  this, 
may  become  willing  that  its  independence  should  be  sacri- 
ficed to  the  fallacy  of  an  immediate  and  frequently  recur- 
ring responsibility  ;  and  for  this  purpose  may  change  the 
tenure  of  judicial  oilice  to  a  term  of  years,  instead  of 
"during  good  behavior";  and  even  make  the  oilice  of 
judge  elective.  Or  they,  or  an  influential  portion  of  them, 
while  moved  by  some  strong  impulse,  may  desire  that  the 
judiciary  should  feel  this  impulse  also,  and  place  itself  on 
the  one  side  or  the  other  of  conflicting  parties.  When  this 
is  done,  even  the  partisans  who  rejoice,  cannot  approve,  or 
at  least  can  no  longer  respect  that  judiciary  which  has 


CHIEF  JUSTICE   PARSONS.  199 

become  their  own.  They,  and  then  the  whole  people,  will 
lose  all  just  idea  of  what  the  judiciary  should  'be,  and  how 
it  should  be  regarded ;  and  then  a  step  has  been  taken, 
a  large  step,  of  steep  descent,  from  which  it  will  be  difficult, 
and  perhaps  impossible,  to  recover  and  re-ascend. 

I  believe  there  was  nothing  which  my  father  more  desired 
than  that  the  people  should  cultivate  in  themselves  a  kind 
and  respectful,  but  watchful  jealousy  of  the  judicial  depart- 
ment ;  and  should  feel  a  deep  and  sincere,  and  yet  a  rational 
respect  for  it,  founded  upon  a  just  understanding  of  the  vast 
importance  of  its  functions.  And  that  the  people  might  so 
feel,  the  very  first  and  most  essential  cause  must  be,  that  the 
judicial  department  should  deserve  to  be  so  regarded.  He 
wished  that  the  people  should  see  and  know,  clearly  and 
certainly,  the  utility  of  the  judiciary  to  them  ;  and  that  they 
should  see  and  know  as  clearly  the  means  by  which  their 
utility  might  be  secured  and  preserved. 

In  this  department  he  included,  not  the  judges  only,  but 
all  who  were  officers  of  the  courts ;  and  among  them  he 
placed  all  who  practised  at  the  bar.  And  I  believe  that  he 
was  earnest  and  constant  in  his  endeavors  to  impress  upon 
his  students,  and  upon  others  who  came  within  his  reach, 
that  it  was  the  duty  of  every  lawyer  to  feel  that  upon  him- 
self rested  some  portion  of  the  responsibility,  and  of  the 
power  for  good  or  for  evil,  with  which  the  institutions  of  a 
constitutional  republic  invest  its  judicial  department. 

No  suspicion  of  political  or  personal  corruption  ever 
attached  itself  to  the  judiciary  of  Massachusetts.  In  these 
respects  there  was  nothing  to  desire.  But  during  the  transi- 
tion period  from  the  condition  of  a  royal  colony  to  that  of  a 
self-governing  republic,  no  human  sagacity  could  foresee  all 
the  changes  and  all  the  means  by  which  the  judiciary  must 
be  re-adjusted  to  the  new  exigencies  of  a  new  political  con- 
dition ;  nor  could  they  be  discovered,  excepting  as  the 
necessity  for  reform  should  reveal  them. 

I  have,  however,  stated  this  at  much  greater  length  than 


200  MEMOIR  OF 

I  otherwise  should,  in  part  because  I  believe  that  his  views 
on  this  subject  operated  to  induce  him  to  accept  the  office 
of  Chief  Justice.  No  one  knew  better  than  he  the  actual 
condition  of  the  courts  of  law,  and  the  mischiefs  arising 
from  it ;  and  he  knew,  too,  the  force  and  ability  and  learn- 
ing of  some  who  then  adorned,  and  of  some  who  had 
adorned,  that  bench.  But  he  sympathized  with  those  who 
thought  that  it  would  be  far  easier  for  a  new  man  to 
make  the  necessary  reforms,  than  for  one  who  had  been 
a  judge  during  the  period  in  which  these  abuses  had  in- 
sensibly, and  perhaps  inevitably,  grown  up. 

But  a  much  stronger  reason  for  stating  these  views  of  my 
father  is,  that  they  will  help  us  to  understand  his  conduct 
as  a  judge. 

I  think  he  took  that  office  mainly  to  reform  what  he 
thought  needed  reform,  and  with  the  desire  to  do  this  as 
speedily  as  was  consistent  with  doing  it  effectually  ;  and 
then  it  was  his  purpose  to  leave  the  office. 

In  1804,  what  are  called  nisi  prius  terms  of  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  were  established.  To  those  of  my  readers 
who  are  not  lawyers,  it  may  be  Avell  to  explain,  that  by  this 
arrangement  terms  of  the  court  were  held  by  one  judge  in 
almost  every  county  of  the  Commonwealth,  for  the  trial  of 
jury  cases.  These  were  called  nisi  prius  terms  ;  and  ques- 
tions of  law  arising  from  these  trials,  or  otherwise,  were 
heard  before  the  whole  court  (or  three  judges),  at  certain 
terms  held  for  this  purpose,  and  known  as  law  terms. 
Before  this  change  was  made,  all  the  judges  sat  together  to 
hear  jury  trials.  This  .  new  arrangement  was  an  excellent 
one  ;  and  as  it  permitted  a  far  more  frequent  trial  of  cases 
before  a  jury  than  the  old  system,  it  promised  to  do  much 
towards  preventing  that  costly  delay  of  justice  which  had 
become  such  a  burden.  The  judges  approved  it,  and  so,  I 
believe,  did  all  the  best  lawyers  of  the  State  ;  but  by  the  bar 
generally  it  was  much  disliked,  and  very  much  obstructed. 
My  father  thought  the  change  an  important  one.  lie  had 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  201 

been  so  active  in  support  of  it,  that  by  some  persons  he  was 
—  I  think  incorrectly  —  considered  as  the  author  of  it.  At 
all  events,  a  desire  to  insure  this  system  fair  play,  and  to 
exhibit  the  working  and  effect  of  it,  was  one  motive  for  his 
acceptance  of  the  office  of  Chief  Justice. 

lie  took  the  opportunity  offered  him  by  the  duty  of 
charging  the  grand  jury  of  each  county,  to  state  very  dis- 
tinctly his  views  upon  some  of  the  most  important  princi- 
ples of  our  Constitution.  This  charge  he  delivered  at  nine 
places  in  the  course  of  180G.  A  good  deal  was  said  about 
it  at  the  time  ;  and  I  now  publish  the  close  of  it : 

The  last  class  of  misdemeanors,  Gentlemen,  to  which  I  shall 
call  your  attention,  are  those  which  relate  to  the  laws  providing 
for  the  instruction  of  youth,  and  the  diffusion  of  religious  knowl- 
edge through  the  State. 

Without  public  schools,  the  children  of  many  citizens  will  grow 
up  in  ignorance,  without  a  knowledge  of  their  rights  or  duties, 
and  will  become  a  burden  on  that  government  which  it  should 
be  their  duty  to  support.  The  laws,  therefore,  enjoin  us  to 
teach  the  rising  generation  to  be  good  citizens,  and  to  provide, 
as  nearly  as  possible,  equal  advantages  for  all  who  are  to  possess 
equal  rights. 

The  diffusion  of  religious  knowledge  is  also  essential  to  the 
well-being  of  the  State.  And  it  cannot  be  effected  but  by  the 
settlement  and  support  of  teachers  in  towns,  parishes,  and  soci- 
eties incorporated  for  religious  purposes. 

Some  persons  have  professed  dissatisfaction  with  our  Constitu- 
tion, and  the  laws  made  in  obedience  to  it,  for  its  interference  (as 
they  supposed)  with  religion  ;  and  they  have  considered  the 
people  as  assuming  a  power  which  the  founder  of  it  reserved  to 
himself.  A  short  review  of  the  subject  may,  perhaps,  satisfy  us, 
that  the  people  not  only  had  a  right,  but  that  it  was  their  duty, 
to  provide  by  law  for  religious  instruction. 

Every  well-regulated  government,  established  for  the  people, 
ought  to  contain  within  itself  the  principles  and  powers  necessary 
to  promote  and  secure  their  happiness.  This  happiness  must 
result  from  the  practice  of  a  correct  system  of  moral  duties, 
founded  in  the  nature  of  man  as  a  reasonable  and  social 


202  MEMOIR   OF 

The  knowledge  of  such  a  system  the  civil  magistrate  is  therefore 
bound  to  spread  among  the  people,  and  to  exhibit  the  most 
rational  and  effectual  motives  for  its  practice.  But  the  practice 
of  a  part  of  this  system  cannot  be  enforced  by  temporal  penal- 
ties. The  moral  duties  of  imperfect  obligation,  as  charity,  liber- 
ality, hospitality,  gratitude,  parental  affection,  filial  attachment, 
and  all  the  benevolent  acts  which  constitute  good  neighborhood, 
cannot  be  the  object  of  human  legislation.  To  compel  by  law 
the  practice  of  these  virtues  would  destroy  their  nature. 

Further,  human  laws  can  punish  offences  only  of  which  there 
is  evidence.  Crimes  committed  in  secret  are,  therefore,  out  of 
the  reach  of  the  civil  magistrate.  Thus  our  lives  and  our  prop- 
erty lie  at  the  mercy  of  every  man  who  can  assail  them  without 
witnesses,  and  who  has  no  restraint  on  his  actions  but  the  dread 
of  temporal  punishment.  \\  hat  then  could  the  people  do  to 
provide  a  remedy  for  these  defects  necessary  in  a  government 
merely  civil  ?  Like  all  wise  legislatures,  they  called  to  their  aid 
the  unceasing  operations  of  religion. 

In  Christianity  they  found  a  pure  and  perfect  system  of  morals, 
embracing  all  ranks,  stations,  and  conditions  of  men,  and  exhibit- 
ing the  strongest  motive  to  the  practice  of  duty  by  declaring  the 
existence  of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments.  Hero 
every  citizen  could  learn  all  his  civil  and  social  duties;  and  here 
the  man  meditating  mischief  would  be  informed,  that,  though 
wrapped  in  darkness,  he  was  not  unseen,  but  was  in  the  presence 
of  a  Judge  whose  wisdom  he  could  not  deceive,  and  whose  justice 
he  could  not  escape.  The  people,  therefore,  as  a  wise  and  indis- 
pensable means  of  civil  and  social  security  and  enjoyment,  estab- 
lished tin1  religion  of  Protestant  Christians;  not  any  one  sect, 
but  all  sects  indiscriminately,  without  subordination,  and  giving 
to  each  equal  protection  and  equal  privileges. 

To  diffuse,  the  knowledge  of  this  excellent  system,  that  civil 
society  might  enjoy  its  salutary  influences,  there  must  be  teach- 
ers. And  the  laws  have  accordingly  enjoined  it  on  all  towns, 
parishes,  and  other  societies  incorporated  for  religious  purposes, 
to  elect  and  sup]M>rt  public  Protestant  teachers  of  piety,  religion, 
and  morality,  leaving  it  in  the  absolute  power  of'  these  cor- 
porations  whom  to  choose,  and  the,  nature  of  their  support.  ]>v 
adhering  to  this  liberal  and  equal  establishment,  as  we  prevent 
all  jxjssibility  of  vesting  in  any  one  sect  peculiar  privileges  or 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  203 

prerogatives  over  the  others,  so  we  obtain  for  ourselves  that  civil 
and  temporal  safety  which  is  unattainable  but  by  the  sanctions 
of  religion.  And,  Gentlemen,  while  we  are  instructed  how  to  be 
good  citizens,  good  neighbors,  good  in  every  relation  of  this  life, 
if  we  should  also  be  taught  that  there  is  another  and  a  better 
country,  and  should  learn  the  way  to  gain  an  inheritance  in 
it,  surely  we  should  not  complain  because  patriotism  may  be 
exalted  to  piety. 

Of  these  offences  you  will  diligently  inquire  and  true  present- 
ment make,  without  cither  envy,  hatred,  or  malice,  and  without 
love,  fear,  favor,  affection,  or  hope  of  reward.  When  the  result 
of  your  inquiries  shall  lead  to  accusation,  the  Solicitor-General 
will  assist  you  in  reducing  your  proceedings  to  the  forms  neces- 
sary for  legal  animadversion. 

The  importance  of  executing  the  duties  of  your  office  with 
honest  attention  cannot  be  explained  more  clearly  than  by 
describing  its  nature  and  design.  Government  being  instituted 
for  the  support  and  protection  of  rational  liberty,  laws  must  be 
enacted  to  restrain  the  passions  and  appetites  of  individuals  from 
violating  the  just  rights  of  others.  The  laws,  to  be  effectual, 
must  annex  penalties  to  the  breach  of  them,  and  make  provision 
for  the  prosecution  of  offenders.  For  this  purpose  it  is  necessary 
that  there  be  a  public  accuser.  Were  this  office  permanently 
vested  in  any  one  man  or  body  of  men,  our  liberties  would  be 
unsafe.  The  exclusive  right  of  accusing  would  attach  to  itself  an 
influence  and  power  that  would  be  irresistible.  It  would  be  able 
to  dispense  with  the  laws ;  to  deny  protection  to  innocence,  and 
to  shield  guilt  from  punishment.  To  avoid  these  evils,  our  laws, 
in  designating  the  men  who  are  to  discharge  the  duties  of  an 
office  necessary  to  the  Commonwealth,  have  applied  the  principle 
of  election.  The  several  towns  choose  a  number  of  their  fellow- 
citizens  competent  to  this  office  ;  and  from  this  number,  you, 
Gentlemen,  are  selected  by  lot.  When  impanelled  and  sworn, 
you  are  to  execute  the  functions  of  public  accuser  ;  and,  having 
discharged  this  painful  office  for  a  short  time,  you  are  again 
blended  with  the  mass  of  our  fellow-citizens.  To  guard  against 
the  escape  of  criminals,  and  to  secure  to  yourselves  freedom  and 
independence  in  your  inquiries,  the  Commonwealth's  counsel 
and  your  own  you  will  keep  secret.  Thus  constituted,  liberty  is 
without  danger,  innocence  will  have  protection,  and  only  guilt 
will  have  cause  to  fear. 


204  MEMOIR  OF 

This  principle  of  election  is  further  inseparably  connected  -with 
our  courts  of  judicature.  To  preserve  the  judicial  department 
from  the  control  of  the  other  departments  of  government,  and  to 
enable  the  judges  to  acquire  the  knowledge  and  experience 
necessary  for  the  proper  discharge  of  their  duties,  they  hold  their 
offices  during  good  behavior  ;  but  it  is  a  general  rule  that  they 
cannot  pass  upon  the  life,  liberty,  reputation,  or  property  of  any 
man,  without  the  consent  of  his  fellow-citizens,  expressed  by  a 
jury  elected  and  sworn  for  that  purpose,  if  he  choose  to  put  him- 
self on  his  country. 

As  we  survey  the  other  parts  of  our  government,  we  shall  find 
this  principle  of  election  pervading  every  department.  Indeed, 
it  is  the  animating  principle,  the  soul  of  our  Constitution.  The 
people,  from  their  numbers  and  dispersed  situation,  being  incom- 
petent to  exercise  the  legislative  or  executive  powers,  hold,  as 
the  foundation  of  those  powers,  the  right  of  election.  Our  Con- 
stitution is,  therefore,  founded  on  principles  of  real  freedom, 
having  for  its  great  objects  public  liberty  and  private  safety. 
And,  as  we  value  these  blessings,  so  should  we  sincerely  adhere 
to  the  means  of  procuring  them. 

If  further  motives  should  be  required,  they  will  result  from  the 
consideration  that  an  elective  constitution  is  the  only  politically 
free  one  the  people  of  Massachusetts  can  have.  AVhencver  the 
executive  and  legislative  powers  are  united,  a  subjection  of  the 
judicial  will  follow,  and  there  can  be  no  political  liberty.  An 
hereditary  executive,  not  deriving  his  authority  from  the  people, 
nor  accountable  for  its  exercise,  will,  either  by  force,  corruption, 
or  fraud,  render  a  popular  legislature  dependent  on  him,  —  or 
the  popular  legislature  will  annihilate  the  authority  of  the  mon- 
arch. In  either  event,  the  balance  of  the  several  powers  of  gov- 
ernment being  destroyed,  public  liberty  could  have  no  security 
for  its  existence.  Let  it  therefore  be  repeated  as  an  axiom 
in  politics,  that  our  Constitution,  to  be  politically  frees  must  be 
founded  on  elections  by  the  people.  For  my  own  part,  possess- 
ing some  means  of  information,  I  know  of  no  diversity  of  senti- 
ments on  this  subject.  Tlie  opinion  is  as  general  as  it  is  correct- 

Having  such  a  constitution,  it  must  depend  on  the  people  to 
cause  it  to  be,  administered  with  wisdom  and  fidelity,  upon  its 
true  principles.  It  is,  therefore,  our  interest,  and  a  duty  we 
o\ve  to  posterity,  to  elect  to  public  offices  our  wisest  and  most 
virtuous  citizens;  and  so  long  as  they  behave  well  in  office,  to 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  205 

give  them  our  sincere  and  unbiased  approbation,  which  is  the 
highest  reward  an  honorable  ambition  will  covet.  As  public 
offices  are  created,  not  for  the  emoluments  of  those  who  may  fill 
them,  but  for  the  public  interest,  frequency  of  elections  is  a  privi- 
lege very  important  for  the  people.  By  the  exercise  of  this 
privilege  they  may,  by  wise  substitutions,  remove  from  power 
and  trust  unsuitable  men  ;  and  by  their  continued  confidence 
excite  and  reward  the  labors  of  good  men.  As  it  is  not  to  be 
presumed  that  the  people  enjoying  these  fundamental  rights  and 
privileges  will  voluntarily  abandon  the  Constitution,  if  it  should 
ever  be  destroyed  from  internal  causes,  these  causes  must  arise 
from  the  improper  use  of  their  powers.  And  the  ambition  of  a 
few  men,  availing  themselves  of  the  passions,  or  the  mistakes,  or 
the  careless  indifference  of  their  fellow-citizens,  will  aim  the  first 
blow.  If  these  principles  be  correct,  our  political  rights  and 
privileges  assume  the  character  of  most  important  moral  duties, 
upon  the  upright  and  intelligent  discharge  of  which  depends  the 
felicity  of  the  present  and  of  future  generations.  For  no  longer 
than  we  act  wisely  and  virtuously,  no  longer  than  we  exercise 
the  rights  of  election  with  care,  prudence,  and  discretion,  can 
we  reasonably  expect  that  our  free  government  will  escape  the 
calamities  under  which  other  republics,  ancient  and  modern, 
have  fallen,  to  rise  no  more. 

These  very  general  observations,  which  at  all  times  deserve 
the  attention  of  citizens  enjoying  the  blessings  of  an  elective  con- 
stitution, I  submit  to  your  candid  examination,  assuring  you,  that, 
whatever  may  be  their  merits  or  defects,  they  flow  from  a  heart 
devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  our  country. 

President  Dwight  of  Yale  College  published  in  1821  his 
"  Travels  in  New  England  and  New  York."  In  the  second 
volume,  page  13,  lie  says,  under  date  of  the  12th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1807 : 

"  The  next  day  we  rode  to  Plymouth  before  dinner. 
Here  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  being  present  while  a 
luminous  and  impressive  charge  was  delivered  to  the  grand 
jury  of  the  county  by  the  Hon.  Theophilus  Parsons,  Chief 
Justice  of  Massachusetts.  I  know  not  that  I  have  ever 
heard  a  moral  discourse  which  was  conducted  with  more 


206  MEMOIR  OF 

skill.  The  scheme  of  thought  was  in  the  highest  degree 
clear  and  correct  ;  and  the  style  eminently  distinguished 
for  its  perspicuity,  precision,  and  strength.  The  definitions 
were  obvious  and  complete  ;  the  arguments  conclusive,  and 
the  discussions  introduced  exactly  where  they  were  neces- 
sary, and  were  extended  no  further  than  they  were  neces- 
sary. The  whole  was  so  concise,  that  from  almost  any 
writer  it  would  have  been  obscure  ;  yet  it  was  managed  so 
as  to  become  more  intelligible  from  its  succinctness.  It  was 
received  by  a  numerous  audience  with  a  solemn,  profound, 
and  eager  attention.  After  the  charge  was  ended,  we  dined 
with  the  court,  and  were  not  a  little  gratified  with  the  con- 
versation at  the  table." 

lie  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  with  great  vigor, 
and,  as  some  thought,  with  more  vigor  than  discretion.  I 
have  heard  so  much  of  his  conduct  as  a  judge,  and  from  so 
many  different  quarters,  that  I  have  formed  a  very  distinct 
idea  of  it ;  and  hold  this  with  the  more  confidence,  because, 
although  there  was  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  propri- 
ety of  what  he  did,  there  was  very  little  as  to  the  facts. 

He  began  by  directing  the  sheriffs  and  clerks,  in  some  of 
the  counties  where  nisi  prius  terms  were  about  to  be  held, 
to  summon  jurymen  enough  for  three  juries,  instead  of  two. 
Before  his  time,  and  ever  since,  our  court-rooms  have  per- 
manent seats  for  one  jury  on  one  side  of  the  court,  and 
another  jury  on  the  other  side ;  and  when  one  jury  is  em- 
ployed in  hearing  a  ca^e,  it  is  usual  to  indulge  the  other 
jury  with  a  recess,  if  it  is  not  supposed  that  they  will  be 
wanted  immediately.  The  requirement  for  three  juries  was 
some  indication  of  what  was  to  be  done;  and  he  followed  it 
up  by  shortening  the  trials  very  much.  Now,  all  judges 
wish  and  endeavor  to  shorten  trials  as  much  as  may  be,  and 
for  this  purpose  exhort  the  counsel  to  brevity,  and  keep  out 
what  extraneous  matter  they  can.  This  my  father  did  ;  but 
he  did  much  more,  lie  generally  required  llie  counsel  to 
state  to  him  his  points  before  he  began.  If  they  were  in 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  207 

his  judgment  wholly  untenable  or  insufficient,  he  permitted 
no  argument,  and  allowed  the  case  to  go  no  further  than  was 
requisite  to  present  to  the  whole  court  the  question  of  law, 
if  there  was  one,  by  Avhich  it  might  be  decided  whether  the 
nonsuit  or  default  he  ordered  should  be  taken  off. 

He  was  probably  more  impatient  with  diffuseness  and 
verbosity,  because  no  one  quality  was  more  characteristic  of 
all  his  own  productions  than  that  of  compactness  and  con- 
densation. In  giving  the  opinion  of  the  court  in  the  case  of 
Deblois  v.  The  Ocean  Insurance  Co.,  16  Pick.  310,  Judge 
Putnam  said,  "  As  light  and  spongy  articles  are  reduced  to 
portable  size  by  hydraulic  pressure,  so  the  verbose  readings 
of  the  law  were,  by  the  force  of  his  great  mind,  reduced  to 
clear,  practical  rules." 

If  the  case  proceeded  to  trial,  the  examination  of  wit- 
nesses was  made  as  brief  as  possible  ;  and  when  it  was  over, 
if  it  seemed  clear  to  him  that  the  weight  of  testimony  was 
strongly  and  decidedly  on  one  side  or  the  other,  he  would  not 
permit  an  argument  in  favor  of  a  position  which  was,  as  he 
thought,  unsupported  by  evidence.  The  effect  of  all  this  was, 
that  the  business  of  the  courts  was  done  with  a  rapidity 
never  before  witnessed,  or  even  attempted.  Of  course,  no 
such  mode  of  doing  business  as  this  could  be  carried  out 
without  great  resistance,  and  he  met  with  this  from  many 
quarters.  To  it  he  opposed  an  invincible  firmness,  a  fre- 
quent reference  to  the  necessities  of  the  times,  and  an  im- 
perturbable good-humor.  If  he  said  or  did  the  harshest 
things,  it  was  always  with  suavity  of  manner,  and  if  this 
did  not  mitigate  the  sting,  it  at  least  prevented  all  unneces- 
sary laceration  of  the  wound. 

The  anecdotes  which  were  told  of  him  in  this  respect  are 
innumerable.  Let  me  select  a  few  which  I  suppose  to  be 
perfectly  authenticated,  and  sufficient  to  illustrate  the  way 
in  which  things  went  on.  Mr.  Dexter  was  more  disturbed 
by  my  father's  course  than,  perhaps,  any  other  lawyer ;  not 
because  he  was  diffuse  or  tedious,  for  his  style  of  speaking 
was  compactness  itself;  but  because  he  Avas  more  employed 


208  MEMOIR  OF 

than  any  other  man  in  difficult  case?,  or  in  that  large  class 
of  cases  which  call  on  the  advocate  to  make  up  by  his  own 
power  for  some  little  want  on  their  part  of  law  or  evidence. 
One  day,  when  my  father  stopped  him  in  an  argument,  on 
the  ground  that  he  was  trying  to  persuade  the  jury  of  that 
for  which  there  was  no  evidence,  he  replied,  "  Your  Honor 
did  not  argue  your  own  cases  in  the  way  you  require  us  to." 
"  Certainlv  not,"  was  the  reply ;  "  but  that  was  the  judge's 
fault,  not  mine." 

He  was  on  terms  of  great  intimacy  with  Mr.  Otis,  then 
certainly  among  the  foremost  in  his  profession  In  the  trial 
of  a  cause  in  Boston,  Mr.  Otis  had  offered  some  testimony 
which  my  father  ruled  out.  Mr.  Otis  submitted,  but  in  his 
argument  was  beginning  some  allusion  to  it,  when  my  father 
said,  "  Brother  Otis,  that  will  not  do  ;  you  know  that  evi- 
dence was  ruled  out."  But  it  was  very  important,  and  per- 
haps Mr.  Otis  thought  he  ought  to  have  had  the  benefit  of 
it ;  at  all  events,  he  pretty  soon  referred  to  it  again.  Then 
my  father  said,  "  Mr.  Otis,  please  understand  and  remember 
that  fact  is  not  in  the  case,  and  not  to  be  brought  in  thus 
indirectly."  Mr.  Otis  again  submitted  and  apologized  ;  but, 
before  long,  again  ventured  upon  an  allusion  to  it.  "  Sit 
down,  Mr.  Otis,  sit  down,  Sir,"  was  the  somewhat  stern 
command ;  and  without  permitting  him  to  say  anything 
more,  my  father  arose  and  charged  the  jury.  This  anec- 
dote his  friend.  Mr.  William  Bond,  used  to  repeat,  as  having 
passed  under  his  own  eye. 

At  Worcester,  the  first  term  that  he  held  there  was  after 
the  bar  had  SOUK;  intimation  of  the  course  likely  to  be  pur- 
sued ;  and  the  leaders  determined  to  resist.  Frank  Blake, 
as  everybody  called  him,  perhaps  the  leading  lawyer  of  the 
county,  and  one  of  my  father's  most  intimate  friends,  arose 
to  argue  a  case.  "Stop  a  moment,  Brother  Blakw,"  said  my 
father,  "  what  points  do  you  propose  to  present  to  the  jury 
on  this  evidence 't "  '•  I  will,  if  your  Honor  pleases,  state 
them  to  the  jury."  "  No,  you  must  state  them  to  the  court 
first."  "  I  decline  doing  so,  may  it  please  your  Honor;  and 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PAKSONS.  209 

I  insist  on  my  right  to  address  the  jury  in  my  own  way." 
"  Certainly,  if  you  address  them  at  all,  you  may  address 
them  in  your  own  way,  —  and  there  can  be  no  better ;  but 
I  must  first  know  whether  you  have  any  case  to  speak 
about.  I  do  not  now  see  one;  but  perhaps  you  may 
point  one  out."  "  I  Avill  endeavor  to  do  so  to  the  jury." 
"  No,  you  must  do  so  first  to  me."  "  This  I  positively 
decline."  "  Very  well,  with  any  view  of  the  case  I  can 
now  take,  you  will  waste  the  time  of  the  jury,  the  court, 
and  the  county,  by  any  argument."  Mr.  Blake  then  arose, 
and,  turning  to  the  jury,  began,  "  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury, 
—  when  my  father  instantly  said,  "  Mr.  Sheriff,  commit 
Mr.  Blake  to  close  jail,"  and  quietly  arose,  and  began 
charging  the  jury.  The  sheriff  approached  Mr.  Blake,  who 
rose  to  follow  him,  and  my  father,  interrupting  his  charge, 
said  to  the  sheriff,  "  Stop,  Sir,  a  few  moments  "  ;  and  went 
on  and  gave  the  case  to  the  jury.  He  then  turned  to  the 
bar,  and  said,  "  Brother  Blake,  will  you  go  to  the  jail  now, 
or  wait  until  you  have  got  through  some  of  your  cases  ? " 
"  I  think,"  said  Blake,  "  if  it  is  all  one  to  your  Honor,  I  will 
wait  a  little."  "  Do  just  as  you  like."  One  of  the  gentle- 
men who  narrated  to  me  this  incident  said  he  was  the  same 
evening  at  a  supper  party  at  Mr.  Blake's  own  house,  at 
which  my  father  was  present.  They  both  laughed  over  the 
affair,  which  did  not  seem  in  the  least  to  diminish  the  cor- 
diality, or,  to  use  the  phrase  he  used  to  me,  —  he  was  speak- 
ing of  fifty  years  ago,  —  the  "jollity"  of  the  party.  In 
1821,  eight  years  after  my  father's  death,  I  was  travelling  in 
Worcester  County,  and  a  member  of  the  bar  assured  me 
that  he  had  seen  a  caricature  of  the  scene,  representing  Mr. 
Blake  as  in  the  act  of  addressing  the  jury,  but  petrified 
with  the  command  to  the  sheriff  to  commit  him.  He 
thought  it  Avas  still  in  existence,  and  said  he  would  endeavor 
to  procure  it  for  me ;  but  he  was  unable  to  do  so. 

In  Taunton,  Mr.  Burgess,  of  Rhode  Island,  entered  into 
the  combat.     He  came,  dressed  with  the  elegance  and  nicety 
14 


210  MEMOIR   OF 

of  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  in  silk  stockings,  and  with 
lace  ruffles  and  powdered  hair.  He,  too,  was  an  old  per- 
sonal friend  of  my  father ;  and  had  been  sent  for  to  do  what 
could  be  done  to  gain  a  cause  which  required  all  the  strength 
which  could  be  given  it,  to  supply  the  want  of  any  strength 
of  its  own.  The  trial  went  on  as  usual,  until  Burgess  rose 
to  argue  to  the  jury.  Then  much  such  a  conversation  en- 
sued as  in  Blake's  case.  By  this  time  it  was  ascertained 
that,  if  the  points  were  asked  for,  they  must  be  given.  Mr. 
Burgess  so  far  yielded,  therefore,  as  to  state  one.  "  That 
is  no  point  at  all,  Brother  Burgess ;  have  you  another  ?  " 
"  Yes,  your  Honor,"  and  stated  it.  "  You  have  not  a  particle 
of  evidence  for  that  point,  as  you  very  well  know,  Brother 
Burgess  ;  what  other  ?  "  And  so  the  thing  went  on,  until 
my  father  flatly  refused  to  let  him  speak.  "  May  it  please 
your  Honor,"  said  Mr.  Burgess,  "  I  think  I  have  a  good  case, 
an  excellent  case,  and  believe  I  can  satisfy  the  jury  of  it, 
and  I  demand,  as  matter  of  right,  permission  to  try."  "  A 
very  good  case  you  have,  no  doubt,  Brother  Burgess  ;  but, 
unluckily,  no  evidence,  and  therefore  nothing  to  go  to  a  jury 
on."  Mr.  Burgess  at  once  gathered  up  his  papers,  and 
marched  indignantly  out  of  court,  while  my  father  proceeded 
to  charge  the  jury.  All  this  occurred  near  the  close  of  a 
forenoon's  session.  My  father  noticed  that  the  crowd  began 
to  leave  the  court-room,  and  there  appeared  to  be  something 
going  on  outside.  When  the  court  adjourned  for  dinner,  he 
came  out  and  saw  what  it  was.  The  Taunton  Court-House 
of  that  day  was  a  large  wooden  building,  of  which  the  lower 
story  was  appropriated  to  offices,  and  a  flight  of  long  and 
broad  stairs  led  from  a  platform  in  front  of  the  court-room 
doors  down  to  the  level  of  the  street.  Half-way  down  the 
stairs  stood  Mr.  Burgess,  haranguing  the  crowd  about  the 
Chief  Justice's  insupportable  tyranny,  and  urging  upon  them 
to  rise  and  stop  the  courts,  if  they  would  not  lose  the  pro- 
tection of  law  and  all  their  liberties.  My  father  stopped 
and  listened  with  much  amusement ;  and  this  amused  the 
crowd  in  front ;  and  Mr.  Burgess  soon  observed  that  they 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  211 

were  looking  beyond  him  and  laughing,  and,  turning  round, 
he  saw  the  new-comer  and  stopped.  My  father  at  once 
came  to  him  and  said, "  Brother  Burgess,  if  you  get  through 
in  season,  I  wish  you  would  come  in  and  dine  with  me." 
And  Brother  Burgess  paused  a  moment,  and  then,  exclaim- 
ing, "  I  give  it  up,  I  give  it  all  up,"  took  my  father's  arm, 
and  they  had  a  very  pleasant  dinner  together.  I  have 
heard  this  story  from  many  persons ;  but  no  one  used  to 
enjoy  the  telling  of  it  quite  so  much  as  good  old  General 
Cobb,  of  Taunton. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  this  was  his  ordinary  course 
of  proceeding.  It  will  be  seen  from  some  of  the  letters  I 
insert  in  the  former  chapter  or  in  this,  that  the  lawyers  fre- 
quently desired  him  to  take  the  whole  case  into  his  hands 
and  dispose  of  it ;  and  that  when  it  seemed  fairly  open  for 
argument,  he  was  very  unwilling  that  the  case  should  go  to  a 
jury  without  one.  Only  when  he  felt  certain  that  an  argu- 
ment could  have  no  effect  (unless  that  were  a  bad  one),  and 
that  nothing  could  be  attempted  but  to  supply  the  want  of 
evidence  by  deceiving  a  jury,  would  he  insist  thus  peremp- 
torily that  no  argument  should  be  made. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  he  gave  very  great  offence  in 
this  way.  In  Boston  particularly,  some  of  the  lawyers 
were  very  angry,  and  declared,  unreservedly,  that  such  con- 
duct could  not  be  tolerated,  and  amounted  to  a  subversion  of 
all  justice. 

Among  the  few  letters  I  have  which  were  written  home 
by  my  mother  while  with  my  father  on  his  circuits,  is  one 
in  which  she  says  : 

"  Wednesday  Morning.     [Place  and  day  omitted.] 
"DEAR  MARY: 

"  The  mail  is  just  going,  and  I  have  but  little  time.  The  court 
business  goes  on  rapidly.  Your  father  sent  out,  yesterday,  for 
the  third  jury.  The  bar  make  themselves  very  merry  now  about 
it,  and  say  he  drives  them  tandem.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
business  to  be  done  at  first,  but  it  sinks  fast  under  your  father's 
hands." 


212  MEMOIR   OF 

Perhaps  all  she  knew  was,  that  they  were  merry ;  but 
they,  or  some  of  them,  may  have  been  angry,  too. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  my  father  sometimes  made 
mistakes  in  this  mode  of  doing  business.  The  late  Judge 
Jackson  had  a  case  before  him,  and  being  told  that  he 
had  nothing  to  stand  on,  and  must  not  argue  it,  he  insisted 
that  he  had,  and  finally  persuaded  my  father  that  there  was 
at  least  room  for  argument.  Argue  he  did,  and  so  success- 
fully, that  the  jury  gave  him  a  verdict.  When  the  opposite 
counsel  prepared  to  move  to  set  the  verdict  aside  as  against 
evidence,  my  father  advised  him  to  do  no  such  thing,  as  the 
verdict  would  not,  he  thought,  be  disturbed ;  and  it  was  not. 

In  another  case,  a  lawyer  in  Worcester  County,  a  very 
estimable  man,  but  not  distinguished  for  knowledge  or  intel- 
lect, found  himself  cut  down  by  a  ruling  of  my  father,  and 
expostulated  quite  vehemently.  He  succeeded  in  exciting 
some  doubt  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued ;  the  proceed- 
ings were  stayed,  and  an  hour  assigned  for  a  hearing  on  the 
point ;  and  after  the  hearing,  my  father  reversed  his  former 
decision.  "  Well,"  said  the  lawyer,  "  I  am  sure  I  am  much 
obliged  to  your  Honor.  I  felt  sure  that  I  could  make  you 
take  my  view  of  the  case,  if  you  u'ould  only  let  me  talk  long 
enough  to  (jet  it  all  out" 

So,  too,  a  gentleman  now  living  tells  me,  my  father  once 
decided  a  point  in  a  case  of  some  importance  against  him, 
and  the  next  day,  on  coming  into  court,  stated  that  he  had 
made  a  mistake  in  doing  so,  and  corrected  it.  Nor  were  the 
juries  always  submissive.  Chief  Justice  Isaac  Parker  used 
to  speak,  with  some  glee,  of  a  case  which  was  tried  when 
he  and  my  father  were  both  sitting,  and  my  father  hurried 
it  through  as  a  very  plain  one,  and  charged  the  jury 
strongly  on  one  side  ;  and  lo !  the  jury  brought  in  a  verdict 
for  the  other  side.  '•  I  was  delighted,"  said  Parker,  "  and 
told  him  the  jury  had  served  him  just  right  ;  first,  because 
he  ought  not  to  have  charged  them  so  one-sidedly  ;  and  sec- 
ondly, because  he  was  wrong;  —  to  which  1  got  no  other 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  213 

answer  than  '  Humanum  est  errare,  Brother  Parker ;  it 
won't  do  to  be  right  always.'" 

One  reason  why  my  father  was  able  to  carry  such  a  sys- 
tem thoroughly  out,  to  its  full  extent,  was  that  characteristic 
pleasantry  of  manner  to  which  I  have  already  alluded.  It 
was  not  possible  for  any  human  being,  or  for  any  contin- 
gency, to  make  him  manifest,  in  word,  tone,  or  look,  the 
emotion  of  anger.  As  he  used  to  say  himself,  only  an 
angiy  man  makes  other  men  very  angry.  Where  there  is 
no  anger  on  the  one  side,  and  nothing  but  a  perfect  amenity 
of  expression,  it  is  difficult  for  the  other  to  feel  or  express 
much  personal  hostility.  Impertinence  was  very  seldom 
attempted  ;  and  when  it  was,  he  would  generally  contrive  to 
meet  it  without  open  war,  and  usually  he  gave  the  offender 
a  lesson  which  prevented  a  repetition  of  the  experiment. 

In  an  interesting  sketch  of  Mr.  Dextcr's  life,  recently 
published  in  pamphlet  form  from  articles  in  the  Boston 
Evening  Transcript,  the  writer  speaks  of  Mr.  Dexter's  con- 
temporaries, and  among  them  mentions  my  father.  He 
represents  him  as  arbitrary  and  oppressive  as  a  judge,  and, 
by  way  of  illustration,  says  that  Fisher  Ames  was  so  much 
irritated  by  my  father's  treatment,  that  he  declared  "  he 
would  never  go  into  court  again,  unless  he  could  carry  a 
bludgeon  in  one  hand  and  a  speaking-trumpet  in  the  other." 
This  anecdote,  is  entirely  true,  excepting  that  Fisher  Ames 
said  it  of  Judge  Paine,  and  not  of  my  father.  It  has  long 
been  one  of  the  anecdotes  of  our  profession,  and  one  which 
the  lute  Judge  Wilde  often  related,  as  equally  illustrative 
of  Ames  and  of  Judge  Paine.  For  the  one  was  sensitive, 
and  his  own  delicacy  and  refinement  made  rude  treatment 
insupportable ;  and  the  other  was  not  only  sometimes  harsh 
in  manner,  but  for  many  years  he  was  quite  deaf,  —  an 
infirmity  no  one  ever  charged  upon  my  father.  There  are 
few  works  of  greater  value  or  interest,  to  the  student  of  the 
history  of  our  country,  or  to  him  who  loves  to  contemplate 
intellect  and  character  in  their  highest  manifestations,  than 


214  MEMOIR  OF 

the  Memoir  of  Fisher  Ames,  recently  republished,  with 
interesting  additions,  by  his  son,  Seth  Ames,  —  whom  I  am 
permitted  to  rank  among  my  valued  friends.  On  page  255 
of  the  first  volume,  Mr.  Ames  gives  a  letter  of  his  father  to 
Christopher  Gore,  in  which  he  says  :  "  The  next  day  I 
went  into  court,  to  enjoy  the  soothing  civilities  of  Judge 
Ursa  Major,  R.  T.  Paine."  And  Mr.  Seth  Ames  appends 
to  this  passage  the  following  note  :  "  Judge  Paine  was 
somewhat  deaf,  and  not  at  all  distinguished  for  suavity  of 
manners.  After  an  uncomfortable  scene  in  his  court,  Mr. 
Ames  said,  no  man  could  get  on  there  unless  he  came  with 
a  club  in  one  hand  and  a  speaking-trumpet  in  the  other." 

Among  the  stories  of  that  day  is  this :  My  father,  some 
years  before  he  went  on  the  bench,  was  arguing  before 
Judge  Paine,  and  did  not  speak  so  loud  or  so  distinctly  as 
the  Judge's  infirmity  required,  or  perhaps  as  he  should  have 
done  ;  and  the  Judge  cried  out  suddenly,  ';  Mr.  Parsons, 
Mr.  Parsons,  I  tell  you  once  for  all,  take  that  gloce  off  your 
tongue."  '"'  Certainly,  Sir,"  was  the  answer ;  "  and  may  I 
beg  your  Honor  to  take  the  wool  out  of  your  ears."  This 
anecdote  does  not  present  a  very  pleasing  picture  of  the 
relations  between  court  and  counsel  in  those  days,  but  I 
think  it  is  a  just  one. 

My  lather  was  by  nature  very  irritable.  It  is  one  of  our 
family  stories,  that,  soon  after  his  marriage,  lie  frightened 
my  mother  exceedingly  by  an  explosion  of  anger  against  a 
person  who  attempted  to  impose  upon  her  ;  and  that  he 
then  resolved  that  no  person  should  ever  again  hear  him 
speak  an  angry  word.  And  I  believe  he  kept  his  resolu- 
tion firmly,  to  the  letter,  under  all  circumstances.  ]  have 
seen  him  —  very  rarely,  however  —  when  it  was  obvious 
enough  that  IK;  was  angrv  ;  but  then  he  was  either  per- 
fectly silent  until  the  mood  passed  away,  or,  if  he  must 
speak,  suppressed  the  feeling  so  that  it  found  no  utterance 
in  words. 

I  never  heard  him  allude  to  the  circumstance  above  men- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  215 

tioned  as  causing  any  especial  effort  or  resolution  against 
ill-temper ;  but  I  know  that  he  deemed  it  politic  and  profit- 
able, or  I  would  rather  say  important,  to  the  last  degree, 
that  a  lawyer,  and  a  judge,  should  be  the  absolute  master  of 
his  temper.  He  often  tried  to  impress  upon  his  students, 
that  the  man  who  cannot  be  excited,  and  cannot  be  made  to 
lose  his  self-command,  has  an  immense  advantage,  in  the 
simple  fact  that  he  is  at  all  times  fully  possessed  of  all  his 
own  powers,  and  ready  to  take  full  advantage  of  every 
opportunity. 

As  a  judge,  I  believe  he  found  this  imperturbability  emi- 
nently useful.  Again  and  again  have  I  heard  it  said,  that 
one  among  the  important  means  by  which  he  —  to  use  the 
phrase  that  has  been  often  used  by  those  who  spoke  of  him 
— "  always  had  his  own  way,"  was  his  perfectly  unfailing 
courtesy  of  demeanor,  and  frequent  pleasantry ;  although 
these  sometimes  clothed,  and  perhaps  disguised,  peremp- 
tory, if  not  despotic  treatment. 

It  was  said  of  Lord  Kenyon,  that  he  would  sometimes 
get  excessively  angry  while  holding  court,  and  make  a  sad 
exhibition  of  himself.  One  day,  old  George  the  Third  said 
to  him  at  court,  "  My  Lord,  I  am  told  you  lost  your  temper 
yesterday.  I  was  very  glad  to  hear  it ;  and  I  hope  you 
will  be  able  to  find  a  better  one." 

My  father  was  perhaps  too  much  disposed  to  be  jocose. 
I  have  heard  it  intimated  that,  while  the  entire  absence  of 
irritation  was  a  great  help  to  him,  he  made  too  much  fun, 
and  sometimes  resorted  to  pleasantry  when  it  was  out  of 
place. 

Another  reason  of  his  success  was  his  perfect  impar- 
tiality ;  or,  rather,  his  way  of  treating  great  men  rather 
worse  than  little  ones.  No  better  illustration  of  this  can  be 
given  than  the  anecdote  mentioned  a  few  pages  back,  of  his 
silencing  Mr.  Otis.  I  believe  I  am  justified  in  saying  that 
he  was  neA'er  cruel ;  the  young  and  timid  and  unresisting 
he  would  help  all  he  could ;  and  as  the  majority  are  not 


216  MEMOIR  OF 

great  men,  they  sided  with  him.  If  a  young  man,  in  whom 
he  thought  some  ignorance  or  inadvertence  might  be  par- 
doned, made  a  mistake,  he  would  in  the  gentlest  way  correct 
the  error  or  supply  a  want,  Avhich  would  have  brought  down 
a  sharp  rebuke  upon  an  older  and  abler  man. 

One  of  the  letters  I  have  given  quotes  a  phrase  which  I 
believe  he  often  used.  It  was  common  with  him,  when 
taking  leave  of  the  bar  at  the  close  of  a  term,  to  urge  the 
lawyers  to  prepare  their  cases  better,  and  read  their  books, 
that  they  might  take  better  care  of  their  clients'  interests, 
and  embarrass  the  courts  less.  This  was  not  very  pleasing 
or  complimentary  advice,  however  necessary  it  might  seem 
or  be.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  bar  of  that 
day  was,  generally,  deficient  in  the  knowledge  which  every 
lawyer  should  possess  ;  and  it  was  one  of  his  most  earnest 
desires  to  raise  the  standard  of  professional  education.  lie 
always  had  many  students,  and  loved  to  have  as  many  as  he 
could  possibly  accommodate  ;  and  from  my  own  imperfect 
recollection,  aided  by  the  testimony  I  have  received  from 
very  many  of  his  students,  I  know  that  the  most  delightful 
relations  existed  between  him  and  them. 

It  will  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  the  letter  of  Mr.  Phelps, 
inserted  in  the  preceding  chapter,  that  the  bar  did  not  like 
his  monopoly  of  students,  and  made  a  rule  that  no  barrister 
should  have  more  than  three  at  any  one  time.  And  even 
then  there  seems  to  have  been  some  suspicion  that  his  stu- 
dents had  more  than  their  share  of  favor  from  the  court  and 
the  bar.  Mr.  John  Gardiner,  of  whom  I  have  spoken  before, 
in  a  speech  in  favor  of  law  reform,  delivered  by  him  in  the 
Legislature,  in  January,  1700,  and  reported  in  the  Herald 
of  Freedom,  a  newspaper  published  in  Boston,  said  : 

"The  great  Giant  of  the  Law  at  Newburyport  (if  my 
information  be  true)  had  a  young  gentleman  lately  studying 
with  him,  whom  the  Essex  ]>ar-call  not  long  since  agreed 
should  accept  the  place  of  a  tutor  in  our  University  for  one 
year,  there  receive  the  emoluments  of  his  tutorship,  and  yet 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  217 

be  considered,  all  the  time,  as  studying  in  the  office  of  Mr. 
Parsons,  at  Newburyport." 

I  know  nothing  about  this  particular  circumstance  ;  but 
if  my  father  could  obtain  this  favor  for  a  deserving  student, 
I  dare  say  he  did  it  without  any  especial  reference  to  the 
bar  rules. 

I  have  heard  some  anecdotes  indicating  that  some  of  the 
seniors  were  a  little,  or  not  a  little,  jealous  of  his  kindness 
to  young  men.  One,  which  comes  to  me  very  directly,  is 
this.  Mr.  Elijah  II.  Mills,  afterwards  an  eminent  lawyer 
and  statesman  of  Northampton,  was  admitted  to  practice  as 
counsellor  in  the  Supreme  Court  about  the  same  time  that 
my  father  became  Chief  Justice.  An  old  lawyer  in  Hamp- 
shire County  was  prevented  by  illness  from  attending  the 
court  at  Northampton,  and  gave  young  Mills  his  papers, 
with  advice  to  employ  some  older  counsel  to  help  him 
through  his  business  ;  and  he  also  gave  Mills  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  my  father.  Mills  waited  upon  him,  and 
they  had  some  chat,  in  the  course  of  which  my  father 
inquired  particularly  about  his  studies,  and  probably  saw 
what  kind  of  man  he  was.  Presently  Mills  stated  that  he 
proposed  to  employ  senior  counsel,  and  asked  some  advice 
about  it.  "  I  think,  on  the  whole,"  said  my  father,  "  you 
had  better  employ  no  one.  You  and  I  can  do  the  business 
about  as  well  as  anybody."  Mills  had  no  unwillingness 
to  try ;  and  everything  went  on  well,  with  the  help  of 
a  little  hint  here  and  a  suggestion  there,  and  the  term 
was  ended.  Mills  called  on  my  father,  the  last  evening,  to 
thank  him,  and  say  good-by  ;  and  while  there,  a  prominent 
senior  counsel  came  in  on  the  same  errand.  Possibly  he 
was  one  who  would  have  been,  or  thought  he  should  have 
been,  retained  by  Mills,  if  my  father  had  not  interfered. 
However  this  may  be,  when  he  rose  to  go,  my  father  bade 
him  farewell  until  the  next  term,  expressing  the  hope  to  see 
him  then.  "  I  am  not  sure  about  that,  Judge,"  was  the 
answer ;  "  I  think  some  of  sending  my  office-boy  with  my 


218  MEMOIR  OF 

papers.  Jew  and  lie  together  will  do  the  business  full  as  well 
as  I  can" 

On  one  particular  point  much  ignorance  existed,  which 
he  thought  peculiarly  harmful ;  nor  can  I  explain  myself, 
without  treating,  at  some  length,  of  a  topic  which  only 
professional  readers  can  be  supposed  to  understand,  and 
which  not  many  of  them  will  care  for.  This  subject  is 
special  pleading ;  and  as  I  must  say  something  about  it,  I 
will  try  to  say  this  intelligibly. 

By  pleading  is  commonly  undei'stood  arguing  a  case ; 
but,  Avith  lawyers,  something  very  different  is  meant  by  this 
word.  For  in  its  legal  meaning,  pleading  is  now  never 
oral.  It  includes  the  written  allegations  and  replies  of  the 
parties  before  the  case  is  argued  or  tried,  and  nothing  else. 
The  common  law  of  England,  which  is  ours  by  inheritance, 
has  been  called  "  the  consummation  of  experimental  wis- 
dom." I  A  erily  believe  it  to  be  so ;  and  I  further  believe 
that  no  one  of  its  principles  is  more  certainly  wise  than  that 
which  required  the  parties  to  a  suit  to  determine,  and  state 
before  the  trial  of  the  case,  the  precise  question  to  be  tried. 
And  this  is  all  that  is  meant,  or  ever  was  meant,  by  special 
pleading.  That  is  to  say :  First,  the  plaintiff  must  set  forth 
in  his  declaration  the  cause  or  causes  of  action  on  which  he 
intends  to  rely.  Then  in  his  plea  the  defendant  must  set 
forth  with  equal  precision  the  defence  or  defences  on  which 
he  intends  to  rely.  Then  the  plaintiff  may  answer,  and  the 
defendant  answer  again  ;  and  so  on  indefinitely,  until  the 
end  is  attained,  and  the  parties,  the  court,  and  the  jury 
know  precisely  what  question  is  before  them. 

The  old  ,J<>e  IMiller  story,  which  has  amused  many  gen- 
erations may,  after  all,  serve  as  well  as  anything  to  illus- 
trate the  common  notion  of  pleading.  A  plaintiff  brings  an 
action  again>t  a  neighbor  for  borrowing  and  breaking  the 
iron  pot  in  which  he  cooked  his  dinner.  The  defendant 
says  he  never  borrowed  anv  pot;  and  that  he  used  it  care- 
fully and  returned  it.  whole  ;  also,  that  the  pot  was  broken 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  219 

and  useless  when  he  borrowed  it ;  also,  that  he  borrowed 
the  pot  of  somebody  not  the  plaintiff;  also,  that  the  pot 
in  question  was  the  defendant's  own  pot ;  also,  that  the 
plaintiff  never  owned  any  pot,  iron  or  other ;  also,  that  the 
defendant  never  had  any  pot  whatever.  This  pleasant  and 
instructive  anecdote  is  repeated  occasionally  at  this  day,  in 
pome  newspapers,  almanacs,  &c.,  to  show  how  lawyers  con- 
duct their  business.  Even  if  it  were  true,  it  might  be 
answered  that  it  would  be  well  for  the  plaintiff  to  have  a 
list  of  all  the  defences  which  could  be  attempted ;  because, 
at  all  events,  the  law  would  not  permit  the  defendant  to  go 
outside  of  his  list,  and  nothing  beyond  it  was  to  be  feared ; 
and  of  these  defences  the  plaintiff  would  know  which  the 
defendant  could  offer  testimony  upon,  and  upon  these,  and 
only  these,  he  need  prepare  his  case. 

But  a  better  answer  may  be  given  by  supposing  such  a 
case  as  might  occur.  For  example,  A  sues  B  on  his  prom- 
issory note  for  a  thousand  dollars.  There  arc  a  great  many 
defences  possible  against  a  note  ;  as  that  defendant  never 
signed  it,  or  that  it  lias  been  materially  altered  in  date  or 
sum,  or  that  it  was  obtained  fraudulently,  or  without  con- 
sideration, or  that  the  defendant  was  a  minor,  or  that  the 
note  was  due  more  than  six  years  ago,  in  which  case  the 
statutes  of  limitation  do  not  permit  its  recovery,  or  that  it 
was  usurious,  &c.,  &c.  If  there  be  no  special  pleading,  the 
defendant  may  simply  say  he  does  not  owe  the  plaintiff,  and 
then  come  into  court  with  any  one  or  all  of  these  defences, 
or  of  many  others  ;  and  the  plaintiff  can  only  be  safe  by 
preparing  his  evidence  beforehand  to  meet  every  possible 
defence.  But  special  pleading  says  this  must  not  be.  The 
defendant  must  say  what  he  relies  on.  If,  then,  we  suppose 
that  his  real  defence  is  the  statute  of  limitations,  he  pleads 
that  the  note  has  been  due  (or,  in  the  language  of  the  law, 
that  the  cause  of  action  has  accrued)  more  than  six  years. 
The  plaintiff  may  meet  this  in  many  ways  ;  but  he  too  must 
select  and  state  his  case  ;  and  we  will  suppose  him  to  rejoin 


220  MEMOIR   OF 

that  the  defendant  gave  him  an  acknowledgment  of  this 
debt  5n  writing,  within  six  years  ;  for,  by  law,  this  restores 
the  obligation.  Now  the  defendant  must  again  specify 
his  answer  to  this  ;  and  it  may  be,  for  example,  that  this 
writing  was  obtained  from  him  by  force,  in  which  case  it 
has  no  validity.  This  we  will  suppose  the  plaintiff  simply 
denies,  and  now,  in  legal  phrase,  an  issue  is  joined,  or,  in 
plain  English,  a  precise  question  is  raised,  and  court,  jury, 
counsel,  and  parties  all  know  what  it  is,  and  no  evidence  or 
argument  can  be  heard  beyond  it.  The  defendant  virtually 
admits  that  he  signed  the  note,  that  it  was  given  for  a  good 
consideration,  and  was  valid ;  the  plaintiff  admits  that  it  has 
been  due  more  than  six  years  ;  the  defendant  admits  that 
he  has  given  a  written  acknowledgment  Avitliin  six  years  ; 
and  the  only  possible  question  to  be  considered  is,  whether 
or  no  this  last  writing  was  obtained  by  force. 

It  may  be  that  one  party  or  the  other  has  more  than  one 
allegation  or  one  defence  ;  and  then  as  many  issues  may 
be  raised,  that  is,  as  many  specific  questions  presented,  as 
actually  belong  to  the  case.  But  still  the  rule  holds,  that 
no  other  question  than  that  or  those  distinctly  presented  by 
the  pleading  can  be  heard  or  tried. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true,  that,  in  part  from  the  difficulty  of 
presenting  some  questions  fully  and  clearly,  but  with  a  rig- 
orous exclusion  of  all  extraneous  matter,  and  in  part  from 
the  natural  tendency  of  rules  and  precedents  to  accumu- 
late and  become  intricate,  this  business  of  special  pleading 
became  very  difficult,  and  was  encumbered  with  abuses.  In 
England,  a  considerable  class  of  lawyers,  known  as  "special 
pleaders,"  devote  themselves  exclusively  to  this  work  ;  and 
without  ever  speaking  in  court,  or  even  going  into  court, 
arc  constantly  employed  in  preparing  "the  pleadings"  for 
other  lawyers.  In  this  country  we  have  no  such  class  ;  nor 
were  the  rules  of  special  pleading  ever  so  strict  or  technical 
as  in  England.  ]>nt,  from  the  nature  of  the  ca.-e.  and  the 
absolute  necessity  that  the  court  and  the  parties  should 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  221 

know  what  questions  a  case  presented,  there  were  rules  and 
principles  of  special  pleading  which  constituted  a  system ; 
and  this  could  only  be  learned  by  a  proper  amount  of  dili- 
gent and  intelligent  study. 

In  my  father's  time,  there  was  a  very  general  ignorance 
on  this  subject.  Only  a  few  of  the  leading  lawyers  pre- 
tended to  be  good  pleaders ;  and  the  inaccuracy  or  insuffi- 
ciency of  the  pleading  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  disorder 
and  confusion  which  prevailed  in  the  courts.  He  was  him- 
self a  very  good  pleader,  having  devoted  much  time  to  the 
science.  When  he  had  students,  every  one  was  expected 
to  write  out,  in  a  book  prepared  for  that  purpose,  declara- 
tions, picas,  and  forms,  which  my  father  had  prepared  or 
adopted.  I  have  some  of  these  books  now ;  and  the  vol- 
umes of  precedents,  afterwards  published  for  the  use  of  the 
profession,  by  Antlion,  Story,  Oliver,  and  others,  were  com- 
piled in  a  good  degree  from  these  books.* 

On  this  point  my  father  was  very  urgent.  He  insisted 
on  good  pleading.  It  will  be  remembered  that,  in  1790,  he 
successfully  resisted  the  strenuous  efforts  of  an  able  lawyer 
to  procure  the  prohibition  of  special  pleading.  When  he 
became  a  judge,  and  it  was  found  that  he  would  not  try  a 
case  where  the  pleading  was  incurably  defective,  strenuous 
were  the  efforts,  and  strange  the  results,  in  many  of  the 
counties.  I  have  heard  innumerable  anecdotes  about  this ; 
but  they  were  all  in  substance  like  one  my  friend,  Mr. 
Charles  S.  Daveis,  of  Portland,  tells  me.  There  was  a 
libel  case  before  the  court.  It  was  one  of  especial  interest, 
and  a  great  array  of  counsel  and  witnesses  were  in  attend- 
ance. The  plaintiff,  in  his  anxiety  to  make  a  declaration 
that  would  stand  criticism,  filed  thirteen  "  counts,"  as  they 
are  called,  which  arc  in  substance  so  many  different  and  dis- 


*  The  first  of  these,  by  John  Anthon,  was  called,  "American  Pre- 
cedents of  Declarations,  collected  chiefly  from  the  Manuscripts  of  Chief 
Justice  Parsons." 


222  MEMOIR   OF 

tinct  ways  of  stating  the  case.  The  defendant  had  filed  a 
still  larger  number  of  special  pleas.  But  when  the  case  was 
opened  and  the  papers  read,  my  father  simply  remarked 
that  all  the  counts  and  all  the  pleas  were  bad,  that  a  trial 
would  be  of  no  use,  and  advised  the  plaintiff  to  withdraw  his 
suit,  and  the  defendant  to  take  no  costs,  —  which  was  done. 

While  speaking  of  Mr.  Daveis,  let  me  add,  that  I  am 
indebted  to  him  for  another  anecdote,  for  which  he  does  not 
vouch,  but  he  gives  it  to  me  as  probable  ;  and  I  am  afraid 
it  is  so.  Judge  Mellen,  while  at  the  bar,  arose  to  argue  the 
law  questions  of  the  case  of  Beckford  v.  Page  (2  Mass. 
R.  455).  Being  a  tall  man,  he  looked  over  the  bench  and 
saw  a  folded  paper  there,  marked  with  the  name  of  the 
case,  and  the  ominous  label  thereon,  "  Opinion  of  the  Court." 
I  have  heard,  also,  that  Judge  Ezekiel  Whitman,  whose  let- 
ter I  insert  in  the  preceding  chapter,  being  called  upon  in 
another  action,  with  the  encouraging  and  complimentary 
words,  "  Brother  Whitman,  the  court  expect  from  you  a 
thorough  and  lucid  argument  on  this  case,"  rose  as  if  reluc- 
tantly, and  in  a  low  tone,  not  addressed  to  the  court,  but 
audible  to  all  the  bar,  said,  "  It 's  a  mere  farce  ;  the  old  fel- 
low has  got  his  opinion  in  his  pocket  at  this  moment,  and 
will  never  change  a  word  of  it."  It  will  be  seen,  however, 
in  Beckford  r.  Page,  that  Mellen  was  '•'  stopped "  by  the 
court,  which  was  an  avowal  that  they  had  made  up  their 
mind  in  his  favor,  and  did  not  need  to  hear  him. 

To  return  to  special  pleading,  let  it  not  be  supposed  that, 
in  all  cases  of  deficient  pleading,  my  father  was  harsh  or 
severe.  On  the  contrary,  I  have  abundant  testimony  that 
it  was  his  constant  habit  to  assist  the  lawyers,  especially  the 
young  ones,  in  making  their  pleas.  It  was  no  uncommon 
thing  for  him,  when  on  a  circuit,  to  take  the  papers  to  his 
rooms,  and  call  the  young  counsel  there,  point  out  the  de- 
fects in  the  pleadings,  show  how  they  might  be  amended, 
and  illustrate,  as  fully  as  he  could,  the  principles  involved. 
More  than  one  of  those  who  long  survived  him,  but  have 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  223 

now  passed  away,  have  gratefully  acknowledged  to  me  this 
valuable  instruction. 

In  the  neighboring  State  of  New  Hampshire,  there  was 
even  less  of  accuracy  in  pleading  and  in  practice  than  in 
Massachusetts.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Morison,in  his  charming  Life 
of  Chief  Justice  Smith,  shows  the  vast  reform  made  by  that 
eminent  judge  in  this  respect,  and  the  need  there  was  of 
that  reform.  In  a,  letter  written  by  him  in  1803,  he  says : 
"  Some  evil  genius  has  been  for  years  stirring  me  up  to  look 
into  the  science  of  pleading ;  and  I  have  yielded,  and  am 
now  enveloped  in  counts,  bars,  replications,  estoppels,  trav- 
erses, &c.  You  will  say,  and  justly,  what  has  a  New  Hamp- 
shire lawyer  to  do  with  special  pleadings  ?  If  he  acquires 
any  knowledge,  standing  alone,  he  will  have  nothing  for  his 
pains  but  mortification.  He  must  be  disgusted  with  every 
record  he  reads."  .  On  the  next  page  (173),  Dr.  Morison 
quotes  from  Chief  Justice  Joel  Parker's  account  of  Chief 
Justice  Smith :  "  "With  him  there  arose  a  new  order  of 
things.  Those  members  of  the  bar  who  were  diligent  and 
attentive  to  their  business  were  commended  and  encour- 
aged ;  and  those  who  were  negligent  were  lectured  and  rep- 
rimanded." If  I  do  not  mistake,  similar  words  might  be  used 
in  describing  the  changes  then  going  on  in  Massachusetts. 

I  have  very  recently  heard  of  a  droll  story  told  by  my 
father  at  the  table  of  Governor  "Wentworth,  in  Portsmouth, 
at  a  dinner  made  for  the  court  then  in  session,  and  the  bar 
in  attendance.  To  make  it  intelligible  to  my  unprofessional 
readers,  I  must  premise  that  "  demurrer "  is  a  technical 
term  of  special  pleading,  which  means  that  the  party  who 
resorts  to  it  demurs,  or  rests,  upon  his  law ;  that  is,  admits 
all  the  facts  of  his  opponent,  but  denies  that  these  facts  are 
sufficient  in  law  for  his  opponent's  case  or  defence.  As  the 
lower  courts  have  the  right  to  try  and  determine  questions 
of  fact,  but  only  the  highest  courts  can  finally  determine 
questions  of  law,  —  because  these  determinations  must  be 
uniform  for  the  whole  State,  —  a  kind  of  factitious  demurrer 


224  MEMOIR  OF 

was  made  use  of.  to  take  a  case  from  a  lower  court  to  an 
upper  court.  That  is,  a  party  would  "demur"  to  his  oppo- 
nent's case  or  defence  ;  and  as  this  raised  a  question  of  law, 
the  case  necessarily  went  up  to  the  court  that  could  deter- 
mine the  law  ;  and  there  the  demurrer  was  waived  by  agree- 
ment, and  the  whole  case,  as  to  its  facts  as  well  as  its  law, 
was  opened  anew.  This  process  —  very  common  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  Hampshire,  and,  for  what  I  know,  else- 
where —  was  called  "  taking  a  case  up  by  demurrer." 

My  father,  who  then  practised  extensively  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, was  laughing  at  the  lawyers  assembled  at  the  table, 
about  the  utter  ignorance  of  pleading  which  prevailed  in 
that  State.  Some  one  said,  "But  you  make  matters  worse 
than  they  really  are  ;  some  of  us  do  know  something  about 
pleading."  "  Yes,"  was  the  answer,  "  something ;  but  I 
have  just  passed  four  days  at  court  in  Stratford  County,  and 
I  will  tell  you  all  I  heard  there  in  the  way  of  pleading. 
The  crier,  Mr.  —  — ,  whom  some  of  you  know,  was  some- 
thing of  a  lawyer  once,  but  fell  into  dissipation  and  broke 
down  ;  and  his  friends  procured  for  him  the  office  he  now 
holds.  The  morning  after  I  was  there,  I  went  to  court 
rather  early,  and  saw  Mr.  Crier  on  the  floor,  very  drunk 
indeed,  and  so  drunk  that  he  could  not  move  a  step  up  the 
stairs.  Two  or  three  friends  were  about  him,  consulting 
how  they  should  got  him  up  without  compelling  the  judge 
to  notice  his  condition ;  for  they  thought,  if  they  could  once 
get  him  into  his  seat,  he  could  go  through  his  accustomed 
routine  pretty  much  as  usual.  One  and  another  suggested 
this  way  and  that ;  and  at  last  Mr.  Crier,  who  had  sense 
enough  left  to  see  the  strait  he  was  in,  cried  out,  'Take  me 
up  by  demurrer;  for  Heaven's  sake,  take  me  up  by  demur- 
rer. Jinlije  -  —  do)i't  know  enoiiyh  of  "pleading  to  see 
through  tJint.'  " 

1  would  add,  that  the  reform  which  Judge  Smith  began 
was  effectually  carried  out;  and  the  pleading  in  New 
Hampshire,  as  long  as  any  pleading  was  left,  was  probably 
as  accurate  and  skilful  as  in  any  State  in  the  Union. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  225 

Perhaps  it  was  his  early  intercourse  with  my  father 
which  led  Judge  Smith  to  set  this  value  on  accurate  plead- 
ing. The  Judge  cordially  acknowledges  my  father's  readi- 
ness to  assist  all  whom  he  could,  in  the  following  passage 
about  him  :  "  He  was  highly  favored  in  a  most  able  instruc- 
tor, and  at  his  death  was  certainly  better  skilled  in  the  New 
England  law  than  any  other  man  on  either  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  he  left  behind 
him  so  little  of  the  great  stores  of  the  law  peculiar  to  New 
England,  which  his  diligent  and  discriminating  mind  had 
been  collating  and  digesting  for  more  than  half  a  century. 
It  was  my  good  fortune  to  become  acquainted  with  this 
truly  great  man  and  learned  lawyer  at  the  time  I  com- 
menced rny  law  studies ;  I  cannot  suffer  this  occasion  to 
pass  without  expressing  my  heart-felt  acknowledgments  of 
his  kindness.  He  was  ever  ready  to  assist  such  as  mani- 
fested a  desire  for  instruction.  This  part  of  his  character, 
I  believe,  has  not  had  that  justice  done  to  it  which  in  an 
eminent  degree  it  deserved.  I  will  not  say  that  Theophilus 
Parsons  was  the  greatest  lawyer  that  ever  lived ;  but  I  risk 
nothing  in  saying,  that  he  knew  more  of  the  New  England 
law,  which  existed  while  we  were  yet  British  Colonies,  than 
any  other  man  that  has  lived,  or  perhaps  that  shall  ever 
live."  (Morison's  Life  of  Smith,  p.  428.) 

In  another  place,  Dr.  Morison  quotes  from  Judge  Smith's 
"Advice"  to  the  young  lawyer.  "Have  you  more  acuteness, 
genius,  mind,  knowledge,  than  Parsons  ?  Yet  who  was  more 
indefatigable  in  his  profession,  and  in  his  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge?" (p.  182.) 

After  my  father's  time,  the  pleading  in  Massachusetts 
became  very  much  better.  When  I  began  practice,  no 
young  man  was  thought  to  be  at  all  fit  for  his  business 
if  he  could  not  make  a  special  declaration,  or  a  special 
plea,  whenever  Avanted.  Many  lawyers  in  the  country 
counties  had  the  reputation  of  being  skilful  and  accom- 
plished pleaders.  But  still,  upon  the  profession  generally, 
15 


22 G  MEMOIR   OF 

special  pleading  was  a  burden;  and  in  the  year  183G  it 
was  abolished  by  law.  The  need,  however,  of  accomplish- 
ing in  some  way  the  object  of  it  is  obvious,  and  denied  by 
none.  The  courts,  here  and  in  other  States,  endeavor  to  do 
this  by  a  system  of  u  specification  "  of  the  case  and  the  de- 
fence, under  certain  rules  which  are  gradually  acquiring 
shape,  regularity,  and  system.  Just  so  far,  these  rules  are 
forming  a  new  system  of  special  pleading,  or  becoming  one. 
And  whether  it  was  wiser  to  endeavor  to  reach  this  result 
in  this  way,  or  by  a  careful  and  skilful  removal  of  the 
abuses  which  had  encumbered  the  ancient  system,  is  a  ques- 
tion on  which  there  may  be  a  difference  of  opinion.* 


*  In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  Lord  Tcnterdcn,  then  Chief  Justice  of  tho 
King's  Bench  of  England,  says  :  "  The  preservation  of  forms,  however 
unpopular,  is  of  the  essence  of  all  establishments,  —  of  the  judicial  in 
particular, — for  if  judges  disregard  them,  they  become  authors,  not 
expounders,  of  the  law.  If  a  judge  does  not  understand  them,  he  will 
violate  the  law  in  some  instances  by  breaking  them  ;  and  if  of  a  cautious 
temper,  do  injustice  in  many  by  a.  mistaken  adherence  to  their  supposed 
effect.  The  less  a  judge  knows  of  special  pleading,  the  more  nonsuits 
take  place  under  his  direction."  I  take  this  from  the  third  volume  of 
Lord  Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Chief  Justices  of  England  (page  297). 

Let  me  add  from  the  Life  of  Lord  Ellenborough,  in  the  same  vol- 
ume, the  following  passage  on  this  subject.  Ellenborough  was  an 
admirable  special  pleader;  and  it  is  in  reference  to  this  fact  that  Camp- 
bell says, — witli  perfect  truth  in  my  judgment,  —  "In  the  exquisite 
logic  of  special  pleading,  rightly  understood,  there  is  much  to  gratify  an 
acute  and  vigorous  understanding.  The  methods  by  which  it  separates 
the  [question  of]  law  from  the  [question  of]  facts,  and,  having  ascer- 
tained the  real  question  in  controversy  between  the  parties,  refers  the 
decision  of  it  either  to  the  judges  or  to  the  jury,  favorably  distinguish 
our  procedure  from  that  of  am-  other  civilized  country,  and  have  ena- 
bled us  to  boast  of  a  highlv  satisfactory  administration  of  justice,  with- 
out a  scientific  legal  code." 

In  the  Life  of  Tcnterdcn,  —  who  also  lx?gan  his  professional  career 

ns  a  "  special  pleader, citing,  as  one  of  his  reasons  for  so  doing, 

Mr.  Law's  [Lord  Ellenborough's]  splendid  success  from  following  the 
same  course,"  an  amusing  anecdote  is  quoted  from  an  account  of  him 
in  the  Edinburgh  Kevicw,  which  at  least  illustrates  the  common  notion 
that  this  science  is  merely  ridiculous,  although  its  only  legitimate  object 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  227 

I  cannot  withhold  the  remark,  that  my  father  could  not 
have  been  very  oppressive  to  the  bar  without  some  injury  to 
their  clients,  that  is,  to  the  people.  And  our  sharp-sighted 
fathers  would  have  found  this  out.  Nor  can  I  reconcile 
with,  any  such  fact  his  exceeding  popularity  as  a  judge.  I 
do  not  sec  how  I  can  be  mistaken  about  this.  The  evidence 
of  it  was  plenary ;  it  came  from  all  quarters  and  in  all 
forms ;  it  completely  overrode  even  the  bitterness  of  party 
feeling,  and  manifested  itself  in  every  way  in  which  it 
could  be  exhibited.  Being  his  son,  it  Avas  not  probable  that 
reproaches  of  him  would  reach  me  directly,  and  it  was  prob- 
able that  one  and  another  might  take  opportunities  to  praise 
him.  But,  after  due  allowance  for  this,  the  earnest,  con- 
stant, and  overflowing  approbation  of  him  as  a  judge,  which 
for  many  years  met  me  wherever  I  turned,  and  not  unfrc- 
quently  comes  to  me  even  now,  justifies,  I  think,  my  belief 
that  it  had  some  real  foundation.  It  is  not  enough  to  say, 
that  the  people  liked  to  see  him  snub  the  great  lawyers  ;  nor 
that  a  bold,  strong  man,  who  goes  along  in  his  own  way 
with  irresistible  force  and  energy,  generally  carries  the 
multitude  with  him.  These  and  similar  things  may  be  said. 
But  I  should  not  be  honest,  if  I  did  not  confess  my  belief 
that  the  true  ground  of  my  father's  general  and  permanent 
popularity  as  a  judge,  was  the  conviction  among  the  people 
that  his  whole  object  was  to  do  justice,  according  to  law, 
promptly,  accurately,  and  effectually ;  and  that,  upon  the 
whole,  he  attained  this  object. 

is  to  secure  exactness  and  accuracy  in  allegation,  answer,  or  question. 
The  writer,  byway  of  showing  that  a  "special  pleader"  must  be  tech- 
nical and  absurd,  says  :  "  He  had  contracted  so  strict  and  inveterate  a 
habit  of  keeping  himself  and  everybody  else  to  the  precise  matter  in 
hand,  that  once,  during  a  circuit  dinner,  having  asked  a  county  magis- 
trate if  he  would  take  venison,  and  receiving  what  he  deemed  the  eva- 
sive reply,  '  Thank  you,  my  Lord,  I  am  going  to  take  boiled  chicken,' 
his  Lordship  sharply  retorted, '  That,  Sir,  is  no  answer  to  my  question. 
I  ask  you  again  if  you  will  take  venison,  and  I  will  trouble  you  to  say 
yes  or  no,  without  further  prevarication.'  " 


228  MEMOIR  OF 

When  my  father  took  the  office  of  Chief  Justice,  the 
salary  was  but  twelve  hundred  and  thirty-three  dollars. 
Not  unfrequently  grants  were  made  to  the  judges  ;  but  this 
practice  he  thought  illegal  and  unconstitutional.  It  was 
understood  that  this  salary  would  be  enlarged  ;  and  he  went 
on  the  bench,  intending,  as  I  think,  to  hold  the  office  only 
about  two  years.  In  his  letter  of  acceptance  to  Governor 
Strong,  he  touches  upon  this  point,  and  intimates  that  he 
took  the  ollice  not  with  the  expectation  of  holding  it  perma- 
nent ly. 

Boston,  June  5,  1806. 
M.VY   IT   PLEASE    YOUR    EXCELLENCY  : 

I  have  lately,  by  your  Excellency's  order,  received  a  com- 
mission of  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  this 
Commonwealth,  with  very  grateful  emotions  for  the  confidence 
thus  reposed  in  my  integrity,  and  ability  to  discharge  the  duties 
of  that  honorable  and  important  oflice. 

I  am  sensible  that  those  duties  must  at  all  times  require  great 
labor  and  application  ;  but  in  the  present  state  of  the  Common- 
wealth, the  discouragements  from  attempting  to  give  satisfaction 
to  our  country  are  increased  by  the  immense  mass  of  business 
which  has  accumulated  in  that  court,  and  by  the  little  time 
allowed  to  the  judges  for  deliberation  before  decision. 

The  salary  annexed  at  present  to  the  oflice  being  so  very 
inadequate  to  the  decent  support  of  it,  must  further  increase  the 
embarrassments  of  a  judge,  by  compelling  him  to  appropriate  to 
the  maintenance  of  his  family  a  portion  of  that  time  the  whole  of 
which  might  be  usefully  employed  in  fulfilling  the  various  duties 
connected  with  the  oflice. 

So  far  as  regards  the  salary  of  a  judge,  my  difficulties  are 
peculiar.  In  all  questions  of  expediency,  I  have  never  declined 
to  conform  to  the  opinions  of  others,  when  necessary  to  promote 
harmony  or  union  ;  but  in  questions  of  principle,  I  must  neces- 
sarily be  governed  by  my  own  opinion,  although,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  others,  it  may  be  incorrect.  It  is  my  opinion,  that,  by 
the  Constitution  of  this  Commonwealth,  a  permanent  and  honor- 
able salary  ought  to  be  annexed  to  the  oflice  of  a  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Judicial  Court,  and  that  all  grants  in  part  of  this  salary 
made  by  the  Legislature,  which  are  not  permanent,  are  against 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  229 

the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  and  arc  appropriations  by  the 
General  Court  of  the  public  property  not  authorized  by  the 
people.  Of  this  principle,  so  wise  and  reasonable,  intended  to 
secure  an  impartial  administration  of  justice  among  all  classes  of 
citizens,  and  to  guard  the  judges  against  the  influence,  not  only 
of  powerful  individuals,  but  of  every  other  department  of  gov- 
ernment, I  am  perfectly  satisfied.  Nor  am  I  able  to  persuade 
myself  that  I  can  lawfully  take  what  I  believe  the  General  Court 
cannot  constitutionally  grant.  The  only  salary,  therefore,  which 
I  can  receive,  is  that  established  by  the  statute  of  the  27th  of 
February,  1790,  unless  the  General  Court,  who  alone  can  law- 
fully provide  salaries  for  the  judges,  should  think  it  reasonable 
to  make  an  alteration  in  the  establishment,  by  some  permanent 
provision. 

I  mean  not  to  imply  the  most  distant  reflection  upon  gentle- 
men, whose  talents  and  integrity  none  can  question  ;  but  in  the 
consideration  of  any  subject  involving  a  moral  principle,  however 
erroneous  may  be  the  result  of  my  own  reasoning,  yet  by  that 
result  must  I  be  conscientiously  governed. 

That  unreasonable  jealousies  and  suspicions  may  be  enter- 
tained of  the  conduct  and  opinions  of  judges,  is  sometimes  to 
be  expected.  When  they  exist,  the  situation  of  the  State  is 
extremely  unfortunate.  For  a  due  administration  of  the  laws  is 
the  only  security  of  our  social  and  civil  rights,  and  it  is  a  source 
of  consolation,  if  our  political  rights  should  ever  be  abused.  The 
only  shield  of  the  judges  is  a  consciousness  of  having  done  their 
duty  with  fidelity,  and  with  as  much  ability  as  their  talents,  and 
the  system  of  judicial  proceedings  established  by  law,  would 
admit. 

For  my  own  part,  I  trust  that  your  Excellency  will  not  deem 
it  vanity  in  me,  when  I  profess  a  confidence  in  my  intentions  of 
acting  with  the  strictest  impartiality,  and  of  sincerely  endeavor- 
ing to  know  nothing  of  any  cause  but  its  merits.  "  Tros,  Rutu- 
lusve  fuat,  nullo  discrimine  habebo." 

I  have  taken  the  liberty  thus  to  state  to  your  Excellency  my 
views  of  the  duties,  difficulties,  and  embarrassments  of  the  station 
to  which  you  have  been  pleased  to  call  me.  I  should  not  have 
so  long  hesitated  to  accept  the  appointment,  and  exert  all  the 
little  talents  I  possess  to  justify  your  Excellency  in  making  it, 
had  I  not  feared  the  inconveniences  my  family  must  suffer  by  my 


2:}i\  MEMOIR  OF 

retiring  from  a  profession  the  profits  of  •which  enabled  me  to  give 
them  a  decent  support.  At  the  same  time,  I  have  been  sensible 
that  our  country  has  claims  upon  the  services  of  its  citizens, 
which  should  not  lightly  be  rejected.  I  have,  therefore,  con- 
cluded to  accept  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  of  the  Commonwealth  ;  and,  relying  on  the  aid  of 
that  Being  who  is  the  fountain  of  justice,  I  will  endeavor  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  thus  imposed  on  me,  with  integrity  and  impar- 
tiality, so  long  as  the  irresistible  claims  of  my  family  for  support 
will  allow. 

From  my  experience  of  the  equity  of  my  fellow-citizens,  I  am 
persuaded  that,  when,  from  the  inadequacy  of  the  salary  annexed 
to  the  office,  those  claims  shall  press  upon  me,  my  leaving  the 
oflice  and  returning  to  a  private  station,  for  the  support  of  a 
numerous  and  dependent  family,  will  not  be  considered  as  the 
desertion  of  a  public  trust. 

I  am,  with  great  respect,  your  Excellency's 

Most  obedient  and  humble  servant, 

THKOPHILUS  PAUSOXS. 

To  ins  KXCKLLEXCY,  (JOVKUXOH  STKOXG. 

The  palmy  was  raised  from  twelve  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  dollars  to  twenty-five  hundred  dollars.  The  ollice 
suited  him  ;  he  enjoyed  much  of  its  labor,  which  was  less 
a  labor  to  him  than  it  would  have  been  to  most  others. 
He  was  earnestly  solicited  and  urged  to  remain,  and,  in 
1800,  he  concluded  to  do  so,  if  the  salary  were  again  in- 
creased, but  not  otherwise  ;  and  he  addressed  to  Governor 
Gore  the  following  letter  on  this  subject  : 

Boston,  Juno,  1800. 

MAY  IT  IT.]-: ASK  Yoru  ExrKi.i.rxcY: 

"When,  three  years  since,  T  elite-red  on  the  arduous  duties  of  a 
Chief  .Justice  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court.  I  was  not  insensible 
that  I  was  about  to  abandon  the  means  of  a  decent  support,  for  a 
salary  very  inadequate  to  that  object  ;  but.  I  was  prevailed  on  to 
accept  the  oflice,  in  the  expectation  that  the  Legislature  might 
establish  a  permanent  salary,  suUieicnt  to  defray  the  very  great 
expense  I  must  necessarily  incur,  and  also  to  provide  for  my 
family. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  231 

To  your  Excellency  I  need  not  mention  that  my  family  is 
large  ;  that  the  expense  of  supporting  it  in  Boston  is  unavoidably 
very  great,  without  adding  to  it  house-rent,  or  the  price  of  a 
dwelling-house,  if  the  owner  is  the  occupant ;  that  this  expense 
is  very  little  diminished  by  my  absence  from  home  ;  that  the 
expenses  on  the  circuits  are  known,  to  all  who  travel  them,  much 
to  exceed  the  charges  arising  on  ordinary  journeys ;  and  that  by 
using  a  close  carriage  for  the  preservation  of  my  health,  in 
guarding  against  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  which  I  am 
often  obliged  to  encounter,  my  own  particular  expenses  are  much 
increased. 

Since  I  have  holdcn  the  office,  I  have  annually  been  obliged 
to  expend  my  whole  salary,  all  the  interest  of  the  capital  I  had 
previously  acquired,  and  also  a  portion  of  that  capital,  which 
will  be  my  whole  dependence  for  maintaining  my  family,  when, 
through  age  or  infirmity,  I  can  no  longer  hold  my  present  office, 
nor  be  able  to  make  any  other  provision  for  their  support. 

Could  my  capital  have  remained  entire,  as  a  fund  for  future 
pecuniary  demands,  I  acknowledge  to  your  Excellency,  that  I 
Avould  have  longer  submitted  to  the  inadequacy  of  my  salary ; 
but  when  that  fund  is  annually  failing  me,  I  cannot  anticipate 
my  future  situation  without  anxiety.  To  avoid  this  situation,  I 
think  it  my  duty  to  resign  my  office,  that,  by  availing  myself  of 
some  less  expensive  employment,  I  may  retain  some  means  of 
support  at  a  time  when  I  can  no  longer  make  any  provision  for 
myself. 

I  trust  in  the  candor  and  justice  of  my  fellow-citizens  to 
believe  that  I  am  willing  to  make  any  reasonable  sacrifice  to  our 
common  interest ;  and  that  I  do  not  leave  the  office  because  it  is 
not  lucrative,  or  on  account  of  the  fatigues  and  responsibility  of 
it ;  but  because,  by  longer  holding  it,  I  must  involve  myself  and 
my  family  in  inconveniences  too  great  to  be  reasonably  required 
from  any  individual  citizen. 

The  second  quarter  of  the  year  will  terminate  the  last  day  of 
the  present  month,  till  when  I  will  continue  to  execute,  as  well 
as  I  am  able,  the  duties  of  the  office  ;  and  at  the  end  of  the 
quarter,  I  request  your  Excellency  to  accept  my  resignation. 
I  have  given  notice  thus  early  of  my  intention,  that  your  Excel- 
lency, having  the  Council  now  in  session,  may  make  the  neces- 
sary preparations  for  filling  the  office,  that  no  inconvenience  may 
result  to  the  public  from  a  short  vacancy. 


232  MEMOIR   OF 

It  is  not  necessary  to  assure  your  Excellency  of  my  affec- 
tionate attachment,  nor  to  express  my  warmest  wishes  that  your 
elevated  station  may  contribute  as  much  to  your  personal  happi- 
ness as  it  will  to  the  public  utility. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  Excellency's 

Obedient  and  humble  servant, 

TIIKOPIULUS  PARSONS. 
To  GOVEUXOII  CORK. 

Thereupon  the  Governor  sent  to  the  Legislature  a  rec- 
ommendation to  enlarge  the  salaries  of  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  At  that  time,  an  increase  of  the  salaries 
of  the  judges  to  three  thousand  dollars  for  each  side  judge, 
and  thirty-five  hundred  for  the  Chief  Justice,  was  no  small 
affair.  If  we  compare  the  value  of  money,  the  difficulty  of 
procuring  it,  the  habits  of  the  people,  and  the  resources  of 
the  Commonwealth  at  that  day  with  the  same  things  at  the 
present  day,  it  was  equal  to  an  attempt  to  give  the  judges 
now  six  or  eight  thousand  dollars  a  year.  And  it  is  cer- 
tainly to  the  credit  of  the  Commonwealth,  that  the  change 
was  made  by  a  large  majority,  and  with  little  more  difficulty 
than  that  of  making  the  legislators  understand  the  true;  mer- 
its of  the  question.  Prominent  as  my  father  had  been  in 
the  political  conflicts  of  the  time,  the  angry  hostility  to  him 
as  ''  a  Federalist "  did  not  show  itself  here.  Judge  Story, 
then  a  practising  lawyer  and  a  leader  among  the  Democrats 
of  the  most  uncompromising  enthusiasm,  was  a  member  of 
the  Legislature,  both  when  the  salary  was  first  increased 
and  when  it  was  enlarged  the  second  time  ;  and  he  entered 
into  the  question  with  his  usual  energy,  and  with  entire 
success. 

In  the  interesting  Life  of  .fudge  Story,  by  his  son,  a 
letter  from  the  Judge  to  Mr.  Everett  is  published,  in  which 
he  describes  his  own  doings  in  reference  to  the  lir.-t  increase 
of  the  salaries,  in  I.SIH',.  He  speaks  frankly,  and  il  might 
seem  boastingly  ;  but  I  believe  lie  does  justice,  and  only 
justice,  to  his  motives,  his  conduct,  and  his  influence.  The 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  233 

subject  was  referred,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  to  a 
committee,  of  which  Judge  Story  was  chairman ;  and  he 
made  a  report  on  the  subject,  which  his  son  publishes  at  full 
length.  It  is  an  able  comment  upon  the  clause  in  the  Con- 
stitution requiring  that  "  permanent  and  honorable  salaries 
shall  be  established  by  law  for  the  justices  of  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court." 

If  this  second  increase  had  not  been  made,  my  father  cer- 
tainly Avould  not  have  remained  on  the  bench.  Nor  did  he 
seem  to  take  much  interest  in  the  question.  The  reasons  for 
and  against  his  retaining  the  ollice  were  so  nearly  balanced, 
that  I  suppose  it  was  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him. 

The  salary  was  increased  to  thirty-five  hundred  dollars, 
and  he  remained  Chief  Justice  of  that  court  until  his  death. 
After  the  first  two  or  three  years,  the  dockets  were  re- 
lieved, the  necessity  for  pressing  forward  trials  abated,  and 
habits  of  less  dilatoriness  and  more  accuracy  began  to  be 
established  among  the  lawyers ;  and  I  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve, that  his  method  of  conducting  the  business  of  the 
courts  became  essentially  modified,  or,  perhaps  it  might  be 
said,  moderated.  He  was  still  impatient  under  anything 
which  wasted  the  time  of  the  court,  or  manifested  culpable 
ignorance  or  negligence ;  and  was  still  vigilant  lest  the 
abuses  which  he  had  labored  to  correct  should  again  gather 
strength  by  sufferance  ;  and  he  was  still,  sometimes,  very 
positive  and  peremptory.  But  I  have  observed  that  all 
the  stories  I  have  heard  of  his  "  putting  down  "  the  law- 
yers, and  driving  along  at  a  pace  which  it  tasked  the  strong- 
est to  keep  up  with,  refer  to  the  first  year  or  two  of  his 
judgeship. 

To  sum  up  all  that  I  think  can  be  said  on  this  subject, 
and  as  the  best  result  to  which  I  can  come,  I  would  say, 
that  he  was  habitually  peremptory  and  decided,  and  that 
he  sometimes  erred  in  demanding  of  all  men  a  prompti- 
tude, rapidity,  and  precision,  a  fulness  of  preparation  and 
of  learning,  and  an  econqmy  of  words  and  of  time,  which, 


234  MEMOIR  OF 

taking  men  as  they  are,  cannot  reasonably  be  expected  from 
the  mass  ;  but  that  there  were  reasons  and  necessities  in 
the  circumstances  of  the  day,  which,  in  fact,  in  the  opinion 
of  most  of  the  best  men  at  the  bar,  and  in  the  judgment  of 
the  people,  if  they  did  not  wholly  justify  all  his  require- 
ments, and  all  his  conduct,  were  a  good  excuse  for  them. 

The  raising  of  the  salaries  of  the  judges  after  a  two  years' 
experience  of  his  administration,  and  when  it  was  known 
that,  if  they  were  raised,  he  stayed,  and  if  not,  he  went,  may 
perhaps  be  regarded  as  expressing  the  opinion  of  the  Legis- 
lature. 

That  in  so  short  a  time  he  swept  away  the  accumula- 
tions of  years,  does  not,  of  itself,  prove  too  great  haste  or 
pressure.  In  his  letter  to  Governor  Strong,  he  speaks  of 
'•  the  immense  amount  of  business  which  has  accumulated 
in  that  court,"  as  of  a  thing  which  everybody  knew.  "While 
correcting  this  paragraph,  I  have  received  a  note  from  the 
highest  living  authority  on  this  subject.  After  remarking, 
that  one  cause  why  the  dockets  of  the  Supreme  Court  were 
so  crowded,  was  the  right  that  every  losing  party  in  the 
Common  Pleas  Court  had  to  appeal  any  civil  action  from 
that  court  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  a  new  trial  of  the  facts, 
and  that  every  losing  party  in  the  Supreme  Court  might, 
on  a  review,  have  a  new  jury  trial,  unless  there  had  been 
two  verdicts  against  him,  or  he  hud  waived  the  right  at 
some  previous  stage,  he  adds  :  "  The  Supreme  Court  had 
also  a  large  criminal  jurisdiction,  partly  original  and  partly 
appellant.  These  causes  combined  to  crowd  the  court  with 
a  great  number  of  cases,  many  of  which  were  of  very  little 
importance,  cither  in  amount  or  in  the  legal  principles 
involved  in  them.  To  reach  such  cases  was  almost  equiv- 
alent to  di-po>ing  of  them."  Chief  Justice  Parker  says  : 
';  His  profound  learning,  long  and  uninterrupted  employ- 
ment in  the  country  and  in  the  capital,  and  especially  his 
accurate  knowledge  of  forms  and  practice,  peculiarly  fitted 
him  to  take  the  lead  in  the  new  and  improved  order  of 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  235 

things.  How  fully  public  expectation  has  been  satisfied, 
I  need  not  declare.  The  reformed  state  of  the  dockets 
throughout  the  Commonwealth,  the  promptness  of  decisions, 
the  regularity  of  trials,  attest  the  beneficial  effects  of  a 
system,  which  he  has  done  so  much  to  render  popular  and 
permanent." 

I  once  possessed  a  document  addressed  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, giving  the  most  unqualified  and  emphatic  commenda- 
tion of  his  course.  It  was  signed  by  nearly  (not  quite)  all 
the  leading  members  of  the  bar.  I  remember  the  names  of 
Otis,  Prescott,  Amory,  Davis,  Lowell,  and  some  others. 
It  was  sent  to  him,  to  be  sent  by  him  to  the  Governor,  or 
to  the  Legislature,  when  the  question  of  raising  the  salaries 
of  the  judges  was  before  them.  But  he  made  no  use  of  it. 
It  was  in  my  possession  within  a  few  years,  and  I  suppose 
that  some  collector  of  autographs  has  it  now. 

As  yet  I  have  said  nothing  of  his  administration  of  the 
law,  and  his  influence  upon  the  jurisprudence  of  the  State. 
For  lawyers,  this  topic  might  have  great  interest  ;  but 
they  alone  could  understand  it,  and  for  them  all  that  he  did 
stands  permanently  recorded  in  the  Reports  of  Massachu- 
setts. From  near  the  beginning  of  the  second  volume  to 
near  the  end  of  the  tenth,  it  will  be  found  that  his  opinions 
fill  the  bulk  of  the  volumes.  A  few  years  after  his  death, 
a  volume  was  published  in  New  York,  entitled,  "  Com- 
mentaries on  the  Law  of  the  United  States,  by  Theophilus 
Parsons,  late  Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts."  It  consists 
only  of  the  principal  decisions  rendered  by  him,  without 
change  or  addition  of  any  kind  ;  and  being  in  very  small 
and  very  close  print,  it  contains  an  amount  of  matter  equal 
to  two  or  three  ordinary  law  volumes. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  some  readers  to  be  reminded,  or 
informed,  of  the  question  that  arose  in  1812,  the  decision 
of  which  adversely  to  the  wishes  of  the  national  govern- 
ment, not  only  caused  much  commotion  at  the  time,  but  has 
deprived  Massachusetts  of  a  very  large  sum  due  for  the 


236  MEMOIR  OF 

services  of  her  militia.  Governor  Strong  laid  before  the 
justices  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  the  following  ques- 
tions : 

"  1.  Whether  the  commanders-in-chief  of  the  militia  ot 
the  several  States  have  a  right  to  determine  whether  any 
of  the  exigencies  contemplated  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  exist,  so  as  to  require  them  to  place  the 
militia,  or  any  part  of  it,  in  the  service  of  the  United  States. 
at  the  request  of  the  President,  to  be  commanded  by  him, 
pursuant  to  acts  of  Congress. 

u  2.  "Whether,  when  either  of  the  exigencies  exist,  au- 
thorixing  the  employing  of  the  militia  in  the  service  of 
the  United  States,  the  militia  thus  employed  can  be  law- 
fully commanded  by  any  officers  but  of  the  militia,  except 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States." 

The  answer  of  the  Supreme  Court  (with  the  exception 
of  Sedgwick  and  Thatcher,  who  were  not  within  reach,  and 
could  not  be  consulted)  Avas,  that  the  Governors  of  the 
States  could  alone  determine  whether  the  exigencies  alluded 
to  existed  ;  and  if  they  did  so  determine,  the  President 
could  command  them  only  through  the  State  militia  officers. 
Uecause,  if  the  President  and  Congress  had  the  exclusive 
right  to  determine  when  exigencies  existed  which  author- 
ized the  calling  out  of  the  militia,  and  tin;  exclusive  com- 
mand of  them  when  called  out,  there  was  at  once  a  militarv 
consolidation  of  the  States,  without  any  constitutional  rem- 
edy. Any  reader  wishing  to  understand  the  principles  and 
arguments  upon  which  these  conclusions  rested,  will  find 
them  very  briefly,  but  1  think  clearly,  stated  in  the  answer 
of  the  court,  page  548  of  the  eighth  volume  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Reports. 

His  labors  in  the,  law  were  not  trifling  even  in  amount 
and  quantity  ;  of  their  qualitv  I  am  hardly  the  person  to 
speak.  One  or  two  word-;,  however,  I  may  say.  From  the 
concurrent  testimony  of  all  who  have  spoken  or  written  on 
this  subject  during  the  many  years  which  have  passed  since 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  237 

his  death,  I  should  say  that  he  was  particularly  useful  on 
three  subjects;  —  one,  pleading;  another,  the  law  of  ship- 
ping and  insurance  ;  the  third,  the  law  of  real  estate. 

What  he  did  in  reference  to  pleading  has,  perhaps, 
passed  away.  Of  insurance,  he  has  been  said  to  have  laid 
the  foundations  of  our  law ;  but  they  were  laid  before  his 
time,  by  Lord  Mansfield.  I  think  my  father's  highest 
claim  in  this  respect  is,  that  he  had  the  good  sense  to 
follow  Mansfield's  example,  and  learn  of  merchants  Avhat 
were  their  usages ;  and  then  he  made  out  the  principles 
embodied  in  those  usages,  and  gave  them  consistency  with 
established  rules  and  forms,  so  that  the  whole  fabric  might 
cohere  ;  and  he  recognized  these  principles  as  rules  of  law. 
His  long  and  very  large  commercial  practice  made  him  as 
well  acquainted  as,  perhaps,  any  lawyer  ever  was  with  the 
facts,  the  customs,  and  usages  of  trade  ;  and  upon  these 
he  brought  to  bear  whatever  learning  the  books  could 
give  him. 

His  knowledge  of  the  law  of  title  and  of  real  actions  was, 
I  suppose,  very  considerable.  For  this  belief  I  have  an 
especial  reason.  The  late  Judge  Jackson,  Avho  was  himself 
regarded  by  common  consent  as  one  of  the  most  learned 
lawyers  in  this  very  branch  of  the  law  whom  we  ever  had, 
told  me  he  had  begged  my  father  to  put  his  vast  learning 
of  this  law  into  a  form  which  should  preserve  it ;  and  had 
pressed  it  with  so  much  importunity,  that  my  father  con- 
sented to  join  with  him  in  making  a  book.  Each  party 
began  his  work ;  and  I  have  now  quite  a  mass  of  papers 
and  memoranda  prepai-ed  by  my  father  with  a  view  to  it. 
But  he  never  finished  his  share,  nor  any  part  so  completely 
that  it  could  be  used.  Judge  Jackson  went  on,  and,  in 
the  leisure  Avhich  followed  his  retirement  from  office,  he 
prepared  that  work  on  "  Real  Actions,"  which,  although  the 
change  in  the  law  and  practice  on  this  subject  has  rendered 
it  of  less  immediate  and  practical  value,  will  ever  remain 
a  monument  of  his  learning  and  sagacity. 


238  MEMOIR  OF 

I  will  add,  that  "NVilliam  Pinkncy,  of  Baltimore,  who  was 
very  generally  placed  near,  and  by  many  at,  the  head  of 
the  bar  of  the  United  States,  said  to  me,  forty  years  ago, 
"  Do  you  know  one  point  in  Avhich  your  father  surpassed  all 
the  lawyers  of  our  country  ?  It  was  in  his  thorough  study 
and  comprehension  of  Coke  Littleton.  I  have  read  that 
book  more,  perhaps,  than  any  one  among  us  now,  and  I 
know  what  it  can  do  for  a  lawyer." 

Perhaps  nothing  strikes  even  a  cursory  reader  of  his 
opinions  more  than  the  apparent  endeavor  to  give  to  Mas- 
sachusetts a  system  of  law  founded  upon  her  own  usages, 
her  own  circumstances  and  exigencies.  And  the  more  they 
are  studied,  the  more  this  impression  will  be  confirmed.  In 
looking,  just  now,  at  the  Reports,  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
the  exact  dates  of  his  earliest  and  latest  decisions,  I  noticed 
that  most  of  the  early  cases  turned  upon  our  local  law ;  and 
in  one  of  them  (2  Mass.  Rep.  115)  he  declares  that  "the 
law  is  well  settled,  that  parents  are  under  obligations  to 
support  their  children,  and  arc  entitled  to  their  earnings." 
This  declaration,  perhaps,  settled  the  law  for  Massachusetts, 
and  from  this  State  it  has  spread  widely  through  the  coun- 
try ;  but  it  was  not  a  settled  and  recognized  principle  of  the 
common  law  of  England  until  of  late,  if  it  be  indeed  now. 
Nor  is  there  any  statute  settling  this  law  in  that  country  or 
in  this ;  and  my  father's  authority  must  have  been  his  per- 
sonal knowledge  of  the  usage  and  law  of  the  State. 

I  had  prepared  a  large  number  of  extracts,  to  show  how 
frequently  he  declared  important  rules,  sometimes  only  on 
the  authority  of  his  personal  knowledge  or  recollection, 
and  sometimes  not  resting  them  even  on  this  ground,  but 
simply  declaring  that  this  rule  or  that  was  the  law.  His 
infrequent  citation  of  authorities  has  often  been  remarked 
upon.  Some  of  the  rules  thus  laid  down  have  been  over- 
thrown ;  but  upon  the  whole,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to 
learn,  the  great  body  of  his  law  stands  unquestioned. 

Any  lawyer  who  examines  the  earliest  volumes  of   the 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  239 

Reports  of  Massachusetts,  must  observe  the  almost  cha- 
otic condition  of  the  law  which  they  indicate.  The  court 
appear  to  take  the  opportunity  which  each  case  afforded,  not 
only  of  deciding  that  case,  but  of  establishing  rules  of  very 
general  application.  And  in  doing  this,  truths  and  princi- 
ples are  often  enunciated,  so  very  simple  and  elementary  in 
their  character,  as  to  show  that  it  was  deemed  necessary  to 
lay  the  foundations  of  the  law,  as  well  as  to  enlarge  or 
repair  the  superstructure. 

I  feel  that  I  ought  to  exhibit,  if  I  can,  some  adequate 
specimen  of  the  manner  and  method  of  my  father's  decis- 
ions. In  them  are  embodied  everything  which  he  himself 
saw  fit  to  give  to  the  public.  It  would,  however,  be  impos- 
sible, without  too  copious  quotations,  to  cite  instances  of  the 
various  ways  in  which  he  disposed  of  the  various  questions 
which  came  before  him.  As  these  differed,  so  the  tone  and 
character  of  his  opinions,  or  rather  of  the  form  in  which  he 
clothed  them,  must  have  differed,  if  they  were  to  be  appro- 
priate. I  select  one  case,  however,  because,  while  it  affords 
a  fair  specimen  of  his  general  juridical  style,  it  has,  if  I 
mistake  not,  a  peculiar  interest.  It  is  one  in  which  the 
question  occurs,  what  constitutes  a  valid  marriage.  One 
would  suppose  that  there  is  no  topic  concerning  which  the 
law  would  be  more  certain  than  this ;  for  all  possible  rea- 
sons for  this  certainty  coexist  in  it.  It  is  the  most  ancient 
of  contracts,  and  the  most  universal.  No  nation  and  no  age 
can  be  pointed  out  in  which,  in  some  form,  it  has  not  been 
recognized.  In  its  importance,  viewed  as  a  civil  contract 
only,  it  surpasses  all  others.  And  whatever  feeling  or  be- 
lief invests  it  with  a  spiritual  or  religious  character,  aug- 
ments this  importance  almost  infinitely.  Nor  has  it  been 
neglected ;  for  everywhere,  and  especially  in  England  and  in, 
every  State  of  this  country  where  we  must  look  for  our  own 
rules  of  law,  there  are  legal  provisions  concerning  marriage. 

It  is  nevertheless  true,  that  there  is  no  certainty  respect- 


240  MEMOIR  OF 

ing  the  essentials  of  a  valid  marriage.  It  is  easily  ascer- 
tained that  a  marriage  celebrated  in  a  certain  way  is  un- 
questionably valid ;  but  when  it  is  asked  whether  the 
absence  of  this  or  that  ceremony  or  form  or  act  invalidates 
the  marriage,  it  may  be  impossible  to  answer.  I  think  a 
reference  to  the  last  authoritative  cases  in  England  and  in 
this  country  will  show  that  the  highest  tribunals  in  both 
countries  arc  unable  to  state  the  law  concerning  marriage. 
Indeed,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  this  question  is  at 
once  the  most  important  that  the  relations  of  human  society 
can  offer  for  adjudication,  and  the  most  difficult  and  uncer- 
tain which  can  be  presented  to  a  court  or  to  a  lawyer. 

The  Roman  civil  law  declared  that  "  Sufficit  nudus  con- 
sensus ad  constittienda  sponsalia,"  or  "  consent  alone  suf- 
fices to  constitute  marriage";  and  elsewhere,  ''Nnptias,  non 
concubitus,  sed  consensus  facit,"  or  "  consent,  not  cohabita- 
tion, makes  marriage."  Chancellor  Kent,  in  his  excellent 
Commentaries  on  American  Law  (published  in  182G,  and 
previously  delivered  as  law  lectures  in  Columbia  College), 
apparently  founds  his  opinion  on  the  law  of  marriage  upon 
these  rules  of  the  Roman  law.  lie  says :  ''  No  peculiar 
ceremonies  are  requisite  by  the  common  law  to  the  valid  cel- 
ebration of  the  marriage.  The  consent  of  the  parties  is  all 
that  is  required ;  and  as  marriage  is  said  to  be  a  contract 
jure  ycntium,  that  consent  is  all  that  is  required  by  natural 
or  public  law.  The  Roman  lawyers  strongly  inculcated  the 
doctrine,  that  the  very  foundation  and  essence  of  the  con- 
tract consisted  in  consent  freely  given,  by  parties  competent 
to  contract.  '  Xihil  proderit  signasse  tabulas,  si  mentem 
matrimonii  non  fuisse  constabit.  Nuptias,  non  concubitus, 
sed  consensus  facit.'  This  is  the  language  equally  of  the 
common  and  canon  law  and  of  common  reason.  If  the  con- 
tract be  made  per  rerla  dt>  pro-sent!,  and  remains  without 
cohabitation,  or  if  made  per  verltn  dc  futuro,  and  be  followed 
by  consummation,  it  amounts  to  a  valid  marriage,  which  the 
parties,  being  competent  as  to  age  and  consent,  cannot  dis- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  241 

solve,  and  it  is  equally  binding  as  if  made  in  facie  ecclesitE." 
Kent  then  goes  on  to  enforce  and  illustrate  these  remarks. 
But  after  the  case  of  Jewell's  Lessee  v.  Jewell,  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  1843,  he,  in  sub- 
sequent editions  of  his  work,  after  the  phrase  "  it  amounts 
to  a  valid  marriage,"  interpolated  the  words, "  in  the  absence 
of  all  civil  regulations  to  the  contrary."  By  this  alteration, 
however,  Kent  leaves  the  actual  question  wholly  unan- 
swered. This  question  is  not  whether,  in  a  state  which  has 
no  civil  regulations  to  the  contrary,  people  may  marry  in 
any  way  they  please ;  for  no  one  ever  doubted  that.  The 
exact  question  is,  Are  the  civil  regulations  about  marriage, 
in  England  and  in  all  our  States,  "  to  the  contrary  "  ?  That 
is,  do  they  provide  not  only  a  way  in  which  persons  may 
marry,  but  the  only  way  in  which  a  valid  marriage  can  be 
contracted ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  are  these  regulations  only 
directions,  telling  how  marriage  may  be  contracted,  if  the 
parties  like  that  way  of  doing  it  ? 

This  case  of  Jewell's  Lessee  v.  Jewell  first  came,  in  1842, 
before  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Dis- 
trict of  South  Carolina,  and  in  this  case  the  precise  question 
•was  raised,  whether  these  words  of  Kent,  in  his  first  edition, 
—  in  which  he  certainly  seems  to  hold  that  these  regulations 
provided  only  one  way,  but  not  the  only  way,  of  contracting 
a  valid  marriage,  —  stated  the  law  of  marriage  accurately. 
The  court  were  much  embarrassed  by  the  question,  and 
finally  fell  back  upon  Kent's  high  authority,  and,  citing  his 
exact  words,  declared  that  they  did  state  the  law  accurately. 
This  case  was  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  and  there  argued  in  January,  1843.  Chief  Justice 
Taney  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  court ;  and,  after  dis- 
posing of  the  rest  of  the  case,  he  comes  to  the  precise  ques- 
tion whether  Kent's  words  do  state  the  law  accurately.  And 
his  language  is  as  follows :  "  Upon  the  point  thus  decided 
(by  the  Circuit  Court),  this  court  is  equally  divided ;  and  no 
opinion  can  therefore  le  given" 
16 


242  MEMOIR   OF 

By  a  singular  coincidence,  the  same  question  came  about 
the  same  time  before  the  highest  courts  of  Ireland  and  of 
England.  A  man  entered  into  a  contract  of  marriage  in 
Ireland,  but  not  according  to  the  law  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  and  afterwards  married  in  England.  In  1842,  he' 
was  indicted  in  Ireland  for  bigamy,  and  the  question  arose, 
whether  the  first  marriage  was  valid ;  this  question  being 
substantially  the  same  that  was  raised  in  the  American  case, 
namely,  whether  the  first  marriage  was  valid  by  force  of 
the  contract  and  engagement  of  the  parties,  although  not 
solemnized  according  to  the  requirements  of  law.  There 
were  four  justices  of  that  court,  and  they  were  equally  di- 
vided, and  could  give  no  decision.  But,  for  the  mere  pur- 
pose of  entering  a  decree  on  record  from  which  an  appeal 
could  be  made  to  the  House  of  Lords,  the  Chief  Justice  of 
Ireland,  though  thinking  the  marriage  invalid,  nominally 
agreed  with  the  two  who  thought  it  valid,  and  a  judgment 
against  the  defendant  was  entered  accordingly,  and  from  this 
he  appealed.  When  the  question  came  before  the  House  of 
Lords,  in  London,  they  called  upon  the  judges  of  England  to 
give  their  opinions.  The  judges  differed  in  their  views  ;  but 
on  the  whole,  their  answer,  given  through  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Tindal,  was  to  the  effect  that  a  marriage  contracted  like  the 
first  marriage  was  in  itself  invalid,  but  gave  to  cither  party 
(by  the  peculiar  English  law  on  this  subject)  the  power  of 
calling  on  the  ecclesiastical  courts  to  compel  a  legal  solemni- 
zation of  the  marriage.  The  case  was  then  most  ably  argued 
before  the  House  of  Lords,  by  the  best  counsel  in  England. 
My  unprofessional  readers  may  not  know  that,  when  a  ques- 
tion of  law  is  argued  before,  and  decided  by,  the  House;  of 
Lords,  this  means  in  fact  only  those  peers  who  arc,  or  have 
at  some  time  been  judges,  and  who  are  familiarly  called  the 
Law  Lords.  At  that  time  there  were  six  of  these, — 
Brougham,  Dcnman,  Campbell,  Lyndhurst,  Cottenham,  and 
Abinger.  They  all  gave  opinions  at  great  length;  the 
whole  case  filling  nearly  half  of  a  large  octavo  volume. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  243 

The  result  was,  that  they  also  were  equally  divided;  the 
throe  lords  first  named  considering  the  marriage  valid,  and 
the  three  last  named  considering  it  of  no  force  or  effect. 

I  have  stated  this  history  at  some  length,  in  part  because 
both  the  importance  of  the  question  and  the  strange  condi- 
tion of  the  law,  as  thus  exhibited,  may  be  thought  interest- 
ing ;  but  more  for  another  reason.  It  may  be  asked,  if  all 
these  courts  confess  themselves  unable  to  decide  this  ques- 
tion, is  there  no  answer  which  can  be  given  to  it  on  author- 
ity ?  There  were  cases  in  England,  and  some  in  this  coun- 
try, which  have  considered  the  question,  whether  mere  co- 
habitation for  any  length  of  time,  without  other  evidence 
of  an  intention  and  agreement  of  marriage,  can  be  consid- 
ered as  equivalent  to,  or  as  constituting,  a  regular  and  valid 
marriage.  The  answer  is  always  in  the  negative.*  The 
question,  whether,  tvith  such  intention  and  agreement,  a 
marriage  is  valid,  although  there  be  no  compliance  with  the 
statutory  regulations  on  this  subject,  remained  open.  But 
there  is  a  decision  to  be  found  in  the  Reports  of  Massachu- 
setts, f  which  goes  so  much  farther  as  to  decide  this  precise 
question.  The  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  this  State,  speak- 
ing through  my  father,  is  the  only  tribunal  which  has  dis- 
tinctly met  and  answered  the  question,  whether  a  marriage 
is  valid  which  rests  upon  no  other  foundation  than  the 
mutual  agreement  of  the  parties,  followed  by  cohabitation 
as  husband  and  wife.  The  decision  was  in  the  negative. 
I  should  premise,  that  the  parties  in  this  case  came  to  a 
tavern  in  the  town  where  they  lived,  when  a  justice  of  the 
peace  happened  to  be  there,  and,  producing  a  certificate 
that  their  intentions  of  marriage  had  been  published,  they 
requested  him  to  marry  them ;  but  it  was  distinctly  proved 
that  he  refused  to  marry  them.  They  however  went  through 
the  usual  forms,  in  the  presence  of  the  justice  and  of  others, 

*  The  case  of  The  State  v.  Samuel,  in  2  Dev.  &  Bat.  177,  amounts, 
I  think,  to  nothing  more  than  this. 
t  Milford  v.  "Worcester,  7  Mass.  R.  48. 


244  MEMOIR   OF 

and  afterwards  lived  as  husband  and  wife.  In  giving  the 
opinion  of  the  court,  my  father,  after  saying  that  the  legal- 
ity (or  validity)  of  the  marriage  was  the  only  question  in 
the  case,  goes  on  as  follows : 

Marriage  is  unquestionably  a  civil  contract,  founded  in  the 
social  nature  of  man,  and  intended  to  regulate,  chasten,  and 
refine  the  intercourse  between  the  sexes,  and  to  multiply,  pre- 
serve, and  improve  the  species.  It  is  an  engagement  by  which  a 
single  man  and  a  single  woman  of  sufficient  discretion  take  each 
other  for  husband  and  wife.  From  the  nature  of  the  contract,  it 
exists  during  the  lives  of  the  two  parties,  unless  dissolved  for 
causes  which  defeat  the  object  of  marriage,  or  from  relations  im- 
posing duties  repugnant  to  matrimonial  rights  and  obligations. 

Marriage  being  essential  to  the  peace  and  harmony,  and  to  the 
virtues  and  improvements  of  civil  society,  it  has  been,  in  all  well- 
regulated  governments,  among  the  first  attentions  of  the  civil 
magistrate  to  regulate  marriages ;  by  defining  the,  characters  and 
relations  of  parties  who  may  marry,  so  as  to  prevent  a  conflict  of 
duties,  and  to  preserve  the  purity  of  families ;  by  describing  the 
solemnities  by  which  the  contract  shall  be  executed,  so  as  to 
guard  against  fraud,  surprise,  and  seduction ;  by  annexing  civil 
rights  to  the  parties  and  their  issue,  to  encourage  marriage,  and 
to  discountenance  wanton  and  lascivious  cohabitation,  which,  if 
not  checked,  is  followed  by  prostration  of  morals,  and  a  dissolu- 
tion of  manners ;  and  by  declaring  the.  causes  and  the  judicature 
for  rescinding  the  contract,  when  the  conduct  of  either  party  and 
the  interest  of  the  state  authorize  a  dissolution.  A  marriage  con- 
tracted by  parties  authorized  by  law  to  contract,  and  solemnized 
in  the  manner  prescribed  by  law,  is  a  lawful  marriage;  and  to  no 
other  marriage  arc  incident  the  rights  and  privileges  secured  to 
husband  and  wife,  and  to  the  issue  of  the  marriage. 

The  inquiry,  therefore,  in  this  case  is,  whether  the.  mutual  en- 
gagement of  Stephen  Temple  and  Rhoda  Kssling,  made  at  the 
tavern  in  I'pton,  under  the  circumstances  there  existing,  was  a 
lawful  marriage.  Let  us  now  examine  the  law. 

When  our  ancestors  left  England,  and  ever  since,  it  is  well 
known  that  a  lawful  marriage  there  must  be  celebrated  before  a 
clergyman  in  orders,  and  that  all  questions  of  marriage,  divorce, 
and  alimony  regularly  belong  to  the  ordinarv.  When  our  an- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  245 

cestors  first  settled  here,  smarting  under  the  arbitrary  censures 
of  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  they  were  not  disposed  to  invest  their 
own  clergy  with  any  civil  powers  whatever ;  but  to  leave  them 
wholly  to  the  exercise  of  their  pastoral  functions.  With  this  im- 
pression, in  1G4G,  by  an  ordinance  passed  for  the  due  solemniza- 
tion of  marriages,  no  person  is  authorized  to  join  together  in 
marriage  any  persons,  but  a  magistrate,  or  some  other  person  to 
be  appointed  in  such  places  where  no  magistrate  was  near.  And 
all  persons  were  forbidden  to  join  themselves  in  marriage,  but 
before  some  magistrate  or  other  person  authorized  as  aforesaid. 
Neither  was  the  magistrate  authorized  to  permit  the  parties  to 
contract  marriage  in  his  presence,  unless  the  intention  of  mar- 
riage had  been  previously  published. 

Thus  stood  the  law  until  the  repeal  of  the  first  Charter.  Under 
the  Provincial  Charter,  new  and  different  regulations  for  the  sol- 
emnizing of  marriages  were  made,  which  were  in  force  in  1784, 
and  by  which  the  case  before*  us  must  be  governed. 

By  the  Provincial  statute  of  4  Will.  &  Mar.  c.  10,  every  justice 
of  the  peace  within  his  county,  and  every  settled  minister  in  ariy 
town,  are  authorized  to  solemnize  marriages  between  persons 
who  may  lawfully  intermarry,  and  who  have  the  consent  of  those 
under  whose  immediate  government  they  arc,  producing  a  certifi- 
cate of  the  publication  of  the  intention  of  marriage.  This  stat- 
ute containing  no  negative  words,  it  was  afterwards  enacted  by 
the  statute  of  7  Will.  3,  c.  C,  that  no  person  other  than  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  and  that  within  his  county  only,  or  ordained  minis- 
ter, and  that  only  in  the  town  Avhere  he  was  settled,  should  join 
any  persons  in  marriage ;  nor  any,  unless  one  or  both  of  the  par- 
ties were  inhabitants  or  residents  in  such  county  or  town  respec- 
tively ;  nor  without  certificate  of  publishment ;  nor  without  evi- 
dent signification  that  the  parents  or  guardians  were  knowing  of 
and  consenting  to  such  marriage,  on  the  penalty  of  forfeiting  fifty 
pounds  to  the  county.  The  authority  of  an  ordained  minister  to 
solemnize  marriages  was  afterwards,  by  the  statute  of  3  Geo.  3, 
c.  4,  and  13  Geo.  3,  c.  G,  enlarged  in  some  special  cases,  which 
it  is  not  necessary  now  to  mention.  These  statutes  remained  in 
force  until  January,  1787,  when  the  statute  of  178G,  c.  3,  came 
into  operation. 

No  form  of  words  is  established  for  the  solemnization  of  a  mar- 
riage. The  usage  is  for  the  justice  or  minister  to  require  of  the 


246  MEMOIR   OF 

parties  respectively  an  assent  to  a  mutual  agreement  to  take  each 
other  for  husband  and  •wife  ;  after  which,  he  pronounces  them  to 
be  husband  and  wife.  But  the  statute  would  be  substantially 
conformed  to,  if  the  parties  were  to  make  the  mutual  engage- 
ment in  the  presence  of  the  justice  or  minister,  with  his  assent, 
he  undertaking  to  act  on  that  occasion  in  his  official  character. 
But  without  such  assent  and  undertaking  of  the  justice  or  minis- 
ter, notwithstanding  their  personal  presence,  the  marriage,  I  am 
well  satisfied,  will  not  be  solemnized  pursuant  to,  nor  be  a  lawful 
marriage  within,  the  statute. 

"When  a  justice  or  minister  shall  solemnize  a  marriage  between 
parties  who  may  lawfully  marry,  although  without  publication  of 
the  banns  of  marriage,  and  without  the  consent  of  the  parents  or 
guardians,  such  marriage  would  unquestionably  be  lawful,  al- 
though the  officer  would  incur  the  penalty  of  fifty  pounds  for  a 
breach  of  his  duty.  If,  therefore,  a  mutual  engagement  of  mar- 
riage made  by  the  parties  in  the  pr<*sence  of  a  justice  or  minister, 
he  not  assenting  to  act  in  his  official  character  on  that  occasion, 
would  be  a  solemnization  of  the  marriage  by  him,  it  would  be 
equally  so  whether  the  intention  of  marriage  had  or  had  not  been 
published  ;  and  if  it  had  not,  he  might  incur  the  penalty  of  fifty 
pounds  where  he  had  been  guilty  of  no  breach  of  official  duty. 
This  consequence  is  not  to  be  admitted  ;  and  the  necessai'y  infer- 
ence is,  that  such  marriage  engagement,  so  made  by  the  parties 
in  the  presence  of  a  justice  or  minister,  not  consenting  to  act 
officially  on  the  occasion,  is  not  a  lawful  marriage  pursuant  to  the 
statute. 

But  it  has  been  argued,  that  this  marriage,  although  not  solem- 
nized pursuant  to  the  statute,  is  yet  a  lawful  marriage,  had  be- 
tween parties  competent  to  contract  marriage,  and  not  declared 
void  by  any  statute. 

This  ground  for  supporting  the  marriage  deserves  considera- 
tion, as,  it'  it  In-  tenable,  the  consequences  are  very  extensive. 
"Where  the  laws  of  any  state  have  prescribed  no  regulations  for 
the  celebration  of  marriages,  a  mutual  engagement  to  intermarry, 
by  parties  competent,  to  make  such  contract,  would  in  a  moral 
view  be  a  good  marriage,  and  would  impugn  no  law  of  the  state. 
But  when  civil  government  has  established  regulations  for  the 
due  celebration  of  marriages,  it  is  the  duty,  as  well  as  the  interest, 
of  all  the  citizens  to  conform  to  such  regulations.  A  deviation 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  247 

from  thorn  may  tend  to  introduce  fraud  and  surprise  in  the  con- 
tract ;  or,  by  a  celebration  without  witnesses,  the  vilest  seduction 
may  be  practised  under  the  pretext  of  matrimony.  When,  there- 
fore, the  statute  enacts  that  no  person  but  a  justice  or  a  minister 
shall  solemnize  a  marriage,  and  that  only  in  certain  cases,  the 
parties  are  themselves  prohibited  from  solemnizing  their  own 
marriages  by  any  form  of  engagement,  or  in  the  presence  of  any 
witnesses  whatever. 

If  this  be  not  a  reasonable  inference,  fruitless  are  all  the  pre- 
cautions of  the  Legislature.  In  vain  do  the  laws  require  a  previ- 
ous publication  of  the  banns,  or  the  assent  of  the  parents  or 
guardians  of  young  minors,  or  prohibit  a  justice  or  minister  from 
solemnizing  the  marriage  without  these  prerequisites.  A  young 
and  inconsiderate  couple  may,  at  a  tavern  or  elsewhere,  with  or 
without  the  presence  of  witnesses,  rush  into  matrimony,  distress 
their  friends,  and  destroy  their  own  future  prospects  in  life. 

As  the  notoriety  of  marriages  is  of  importance  to  the  people 
in  furnishing  an  easy  method  of  proving  descents,  the  statute  of 
178C,  c.  3,  requires  a  certificate  of  a  justice  or  minister  of  every 
marriage  by  him  solemnized,  to  be  entered  on  a  public  record, 
which  cannot  be  impeached  unless  by  evidence  of  fraud.  Mar- 
riages otherwise  solemnized  cannot  therefore  be  recorded,  and 
cannot  be  presumed  to  be  marriages  recognized  by  law. 

It  has  been  truly  observed  by  the  counsel  for  the  plaintiffs,  that 
a  marriage  engagement  of  this  kind  is  not  declared  void  by  any 
statute.  But  we  cannot  thence  conclude  that  it  is  recognized  as 
valid,  unless  we  render  in  a  great  measure  nugatory  all  the  stat- 
ute regulations  on  this  subject. 

It  may  be  objected  to  these  principles,  that,  if  they  are  correct, 
a  marriage  among  Quakers,  agreeably  to  the  rules  of  their  society, 
is  void.  I  know  not  that  the  conclusion  would  not  be  just.  I 
know  that  such  was  the  opinion  of  lawyers  before  the  Revolution ; 
and  so  general  was  this  impression,  that,  to  guard  those  people 
from  consequences  so  mischievous,  in  the  eighth  section  of  the 
revising  statute  of  1786,  c.  3,  all  such  marriages  before  had  were 
confirmed,  and  such  marriages  authorized  in  future. 

Marriages  may  be  considered  as  void  or  valid,  with  respect 
either  to  civil  rights  incident  to  marriages,  or  to  penal  conse- 
quences to  the  parties,  where  marriages  are  questioned.  What- 
ever foundation  for  the  distinction  there  may  be,  when  the  par- 


248  MEMOIR   OF 

ties  might  have  lawfully  intermarried,  there  can  be  none  where 
the  parties  are  prohibited  from  marrying.  This  last  case  com- 
prehends by  our  laws  incestuous  marriages,  marriages  within  the 
age  of  consent,  marriages  when  either  of  the  parties  has  a  hus- 
band or  wife  living,  and  marriages  between  a  white  person  and 
an  Indian,  negro,  or  mulatto.* 

Marriages  between  parties  who  might  lawfully  have  intermar- 
ried, deserve  a  further  consideration.  No  person  can  lawfully 
solemnize  such  marriages  but  a  justice  of  the  peace  or  an  or- 
dained minister.  And  a  record  of  a  marriage  so  solemnized  by 
either  of  those  officers,  founded  on  a  certificate  duly  made,  is 
legal  evidence  of  the  marriage,  and  no  imjuiry  is  further  made 
as  to  the  publication  of  banns,  the  assent  of  parents  or  guardians, 
or  the  inhabitancy  of  the  parties.  When,  therefore,  the  marriage 
appears  to  have  been  celebrated  by  a  competent  oflicer,  as  a  jus- 
tice or  a  minister,  the  marriage  is  deemed  lawful,  although  the 
officer,  for  his  irregularity,  may  have  incurred  the  penalty  of  fifty 
pounds.  But  a  marriage,  merely  the  effect  of  a  mutual  engage- 
ment between  the  parties,  or  solemnized  by  any  one  not  a  justice 
of  the  peace  or  an  ordained  minister,  is  not  a  legal  marriage, 
entitled  to  the  incidents  of  a  marriage  duly  solemnized.  The 
woman,  when  a  widow,  cannot  claim  dower,  nor  the  issue  seizin 
by  descent. 

Whether  cohabitation,  after  such  a  pretended  marriage,  will 
subject  either  of  the  parties  to  punishment  as  guilty  of  fornica- 
tion, may  depend  on  circumstances.  If  either  of  the  parties 
were  circumvented,  and  verily  supposed  the  marriage  legal,  per- 
haps such  party  would  be  protected  from  punishment ;  on  the 
general  principle,  that,  to  constitute  guilt,  the  mind  must  appear 
to  be  guilty.  But  every  young  woman  of  honor  ought  to  insist 
on  a  marriage  solemnized  by  a  legal  oflicer,  and  to  shun  the  man 
who  prates  alxmt  marriage  condemned  by  human  laws  as  good  in 
the  sight  of  Heaven.  Tliis  cant,  she  may  be  assured,  is  a  pretext 
for  seduction  ;  and  if  not  contemned,  will  lead  to  dishonor  and 
misery. 

Upon  the,  whole,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  court,  that  the  mutual 
engagement  of  the  parties  in  this  case,  to  take  each  other  for 
husband  and  wife,  in  the  room  where  a  justice  was  present,  he 

*  This  last  provision  is  now  repealed. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  249 

not  assenting,  but  refusing  to  solemnize  the  marriage,  is  not  a 
lawful  marriage. 

In  another  work,  in  which  a  full  consideration  of  a  legal 
question  is  more  appropriate,  I  have  stated  my  belief  that 
this  is  the  true  doctrine  of  the  law,  and  have  given  some 
additional  reasons  for  this  opinion.  Here  I  have  only  to 
say,  that,  if  this  be  the  law,  those  persons  whom  we  often 
read  of  in  the  newspapers,  who  undertake  to  marry  merely 
by  mutual  consent,  before  witnesses,  on  such  terms  as 
they  choose  to  agree  on,  but  without  any  of  the  formali- 
ties required  or  directed  by  law,  may,  if  the  question  ever 
comes  before  a  court  of  justice,  find  themselves  in  the  un- 
fortunate predicament  of  those  who  have  lived  in  unlawful 
intercourse.  Questions  of  dower,  of  inheritance,  of  wills,  or 
other  disposition  of  property  may  come  up,  and  the  self- 
called  wife  find  herself  no  Avife ;  and  Avhat  would  be  far 
worse,  the  children  born  from  such  a  connection  would  be 
branded  by  the  law  as  illegitimate,  and  as  possessing  no 
rights  of  inheritance.  I  should  however  add,  that  in  some 
of  our  States  there  seems  to  be  a  strong  disposition,  both 
in  legislatures  and  in  courts,  to  make  any  contract  of  mar- 
riage legal,  whatever  be  its  form  or  want  of  form,  whenever 
the  parties,  or  one  of  the  parties,  believed  the  marriage  to 
be  legal  and  effectual  when  they  entered  into  it. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  trial  which  took  place  while 
my  father  was  a  judge,  was  that  of  Thomas  Oliver  Selfridge 
for  killing  Charles  Austin.  Fifty-two  years  have  elapsed 
since  that  event ;  and  to  readers  of  this  generation  the  facts 
of  the  case  should  be  stated. 

Mr.  Benjamin  Austin  was  a  leader  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  a  political  Avriter  of  great  force  ;  and  had  said 
something  about  a  suit  at  law  brought  by  Mr.  Selfridge, 
which,  in  that  gentleman's  opinion,  was  untrue  and  scanda- 
lous. Thereupon  he  applied  to  Mr.  Austin  for  a  retraction ; 
and  Mr.  Austin  appeared  to  be  satisfied  that  he  had  been  in 


2oO  MEMOIR   OF 

some  error,  and  made  some  concessions,  but  not  enough  to 
satisfy  Mr.  Selfridge,  who  put  into  a  newspaper  an  adver- 
tisement calling  him  a  liar,  scoundrel,  and  coward.  In  the 
forenoon  of  the  day  in  which  this  advertisement  appeared, 
Charles  Austin,  a  son  of  Benjamin  Austin,  went  down  State 
Street,  advanced  towards  Mr.  Selfridge  with  an  uplifted 
cane,  and,  according  to  some  witnesses,  struck  him  ;  and 
Mr.  Selfridge,  before  a  blow,  according  to  some  of  the  wit- 
nesses, but,  according  to  other  witnesses,  after  being  struck 
a  heavy  blow  on  the  head,  and  another  being  threatened, 
and  after  retreating  from  near  the  middle  of  the  street 
towards  the  side  as  far  as  the  sidewalk,  fired  a  pistol  at 
Austin,  and  the  ball  went  through  his  lungs,  and  he  died 
almost  instantly. 

The  case  involved  difficult  questions  of  fact,  which  were 
presented  to  the  jury.  But  besides  these,  it  involved  ques- 
tions of  law,  which  cannot  be  considered  as  definitely  settled, 
and  perhaps,  from  their  own  nature,  can  never  be  expressed 
in  exact  formulas.  These  questions  relate  to  the  law  of  self- 
defence  ;  they  ask,  what  kind  or  measure  of  threat  or  dan- 
ger justifies  the  imperilled  party  in  taking  the  life  of  his 
assailant,  and  how  far  he  who  is  thus  endangered  must 
endeavor  to  retreat  from  the  assault,  or  otherwise  escape 
from  it  without  doing  harm,  before  he  resorts  to  the  ultimate 
right  of  killing  in  self-defence. 

The  case  took,  from  the  outset,  a,  political  character. 
Selfridge  and  Benjamin  Austin  were  prominent  in  their 
respective  parties,  and  very  hostile  to  each  other;  and  the 
original  cause  of  the  difficulty  had  a  political  aspect.  But 
even  among  those  who  most  strongly  favored  Mr.  Selfridgo, 
there  could  not  but  be  much  sympathy  with  the  son,  who 
was  then  in  college,  but  eighteen  years  old,  and  of  great 
promise,  and  who  died  in  the  defence  of  his  father's  good 
name.  Nor  could  the  worst  political  enemies  of  Mr.  Austin 
—  I  do  not  know  thai  lie  had  any  other  —  withhold  their 
deep.-st  commiseration  for  the  father  so  suddenly  and  >o 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  251 

painfully  deprived  of  one  upon  whom  so  mucli  of  his  affec- 
tion and  liis  hope  rested. 

The  papers  of  the  day,  and  the  full  report  of  the  trial, 
show  the  excitement  which  prevailed,  and  show  too  how 
largely  political  hostility  mingled  with  this  excitement  ; 
indeed,  at  the  trial,  the  presiding  judge  deemed  it  neces- 
sary to  urge  the  jury,  emphatically  and  eloquently,  to 
guard  against  any  such  influence. 

It  was  my  father's  duty  to  charge  the  grand  jury  ;  and 
this  he  did  in  the  following  words  : 

Observing  in  the  list  of  prisoners  returned  by  the  jail-keeper, 
that  two  persons  arc  in  custody  charged  with  felonious  homicide, 
it  may  be  useful  to  you,  in  your  inquiries,  to  mention  some  prin- 
ciples of  law  relating  to  this  subject. 

In  every  charge  of  murder,  the  fact  of  killing  being  first 
proved  against  the  party  charged,  to  reduce  the  offence  below 
that  crime,  by  any  circumstances  of  accident,  necessity,  or  human 
infirmity,  he  must  satisfactorily  prove  these  circumstances,  unless 
they  arise  out  of  the  evidence  produced  against  him. 

"When  the  act  which  occasions  the  death  is  unlawful,  yet  if 
malice,  either  express  or  implied,  be  wanting,  the  killing  is  not 
murder,  but  manslaughter,  the  act  being  imputed  to  the  infirmity 
of  human  nature. 

Neither  words  of  reproach,  however  grievous,  nor  contemptu- 
ous or  insulting  gestures,  without  an  assault  on  the  person,  are 
sufficient  to  free  the  party  killing,  with  a  dangerous  weapon,  from 
the  guilt  of  murder. 

An  assault  is  any  attempt  or  offer,  with  force  and  violence,  to 
do  a  corporal  hurt  to  another,  as  by  striking  at  him,  or  even  by 
holding  up  the  fist  at  him  in  a  threatening  or  insulting  manner, 
or  with  such  other  circumstances  as  denote  an  intention  and 
ability,  at  the  time,  of  using  actual  violence  against  his  person. 
And  when  the  injury,  however  small,  as  spitting  in  a  man's  face, 
or  unlawfully  touching  him  in  anger,  is  inflicted,  it  amounts  to  a 
battery,  which  includes  an  assault. 

Any  assault  made,  not  lightly,  but  with  violence,  or  Avith  cir- 
cumstances of  indignity,  upon  a  man's  person,  if  it  be  resented 
immediately,  and  in  the  heat  of  blood,  by  killing  the  party  with  a 


252  MEMOIR   OF 

deadly  weapon,  is  a  provocation,  which  will  reduce  the  crime  to 
manslaughter ;  unless  the  assault  was  sought  for  by  the  party 
killing,  and  induced  by  his  own  act,  to  afford  him  a  pretence 
for  wreaking  his  malice.  To  illustrate  this  exception,  a  case  is 
stated  of  the  falling  out  of  A  and  13.  A  says  he  will  not  strike, 
but  will  give  B  a  pot  of  ale  to  touch  him;  on  which  B  strikes  A, 
who  thereupon  kills  B.  This  is  murder  in  A,  notwithstanding 
the  provocation  received  by  the  blow  from  B,  because  A  sought 
that  provocation. 

A  man  may  repel  force  by  force,  in  defence  of  his  person, 
against  any  one  who  manifestly  intends,  or  endeavors  by  vio- 
lence, or  surprise,  feloniously  to  kill  him.  And  he  is  not  obliged 
to  retreat,  but  may  pursue  his  adversary,  until  he  has  secured 
himself  from  all  danger ;  and  if  he  kill  him  in  so  doing,  it  is 
justifiable  self-defence.  But  a  bare  fear,  however  well  grounded, 
unaccompanied  by  any  open  act  indicative  of  such  an  intention, 
will  not  warrant  him  in  killing.  There  must  be  an  actual  danger 
at  the  time  ;  and  (in  the  language  of  Lord  Chief  Justice  Hale) 
it  must  plainly  appear  by  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  as  the 
manner  of  the  assault,  the  weapon,  &c.,  that  his  life  was  in  immi- 
nent danger ;  otherwise  the  killing  of  the  assailant  will  not  be 
justifiable  liomic'ule. 

But  if  the  party  killing  had  reasonable  grounds  for  believing 
that  the  person  slain  had  a  felonious  design  against  him,  and 
under  that  supposition  kill  him,  although  it  should  afterwards 
appear  that  there,  was  no  such  design,  it  will  not  be  murder,  but 
it  will  be  either  manslaughter  or  excusable  JunnicUfa,  according  to 
the  degree  of  caution  used,  and  the  probable  grounds  of  such 
belief. 

These  principles  have  been  recognized  by  the  wisest  and  most 
humane  writers  on  criminal  law. 

After  a  due  and  impartial  inquiry  into  the  several  cases  that 
may  require  your  attention,  you  will  ascertain  the  facts,  and 
afterwards  apply  the  principles  of  law,  to  obtain  a  just  and  legal 
result. 

Tho  coroner's  jury  rendered  u  verdict  against  Selfrklge 
for  murder  ;  but  tin;  grand  jury  brought  in  an  indictment 
for  manslaughter  onlv  ;  ;uid  it  excited  no  little  remark 
among  the  friends  of  Austin,  that  his  slayer  was  not  to  be 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  253 

tried  for  murder.  As  manslaughter  is  not  a  capital  offence, 
one  judge  could  try  it ;  and  the  terms  of  court  having  been 
divided  among  the  judges  before  the  affair  took  place,  and 
the  holding  of  the  next  term  in  Boston  having  fallen  to 
Judge  Parker,  no  change  was  made  ;  the  case  was  tried 
before  him  alone ;  and  some  fault  was  found  with  the  court 
on  this  ground  also.  After  the  evidence  and  arguments 
were  in,  Judge  Parker  charged  the  jury  as  to  the  law,  in 
these  words  : 

First.  A  man  who,  in  the  lawful  pursuit  of  his  business,  is 
attacked  by  another,  under  circumstances  which  denote  an  inten- 
tion to  take  away  his  life,  or  do  him  some  enormous  bodily  harm, 
may  lawfully  kill  the  assailant,  provided  he  use  all  the  means  in 
his  power,  otherwise,  to  save  his  own  life  or  prevent  the  intended 
harm,  —  such  as  retreating  as  far  as  he  can.  or  disabling  his 
adversary  without  killing  him,  if  it  be  in  his  power. 

Secondly.  When  the  attack  upon  him  is  so  sudden,  fierce, 
and  violent,  that  a  retreat  would  not  diminish,  but  increase  his 
danger,  he  may  instantly  kill  his  adversary  without  retreating 
at  all. 

Thirdly.  When,  from  the  nature  of  the  attack,  there  is  reason- 
able ground  to  believe  that  there  is  a  design  to  destroy  his  life, 
or  commit  any  felony  upon  his  person,  the  killing  the  assailant 
will  be  excusable  homicide,  although  it  should  afterwards  appeal- 
that  no  felony  was  intended. 

Of  these  three  propositions,  the  last  is  the  only  one  which  will 
be  contested  anywhere  ;  and  this  will  not  be  doubted  by  any 
who  are  conversant  in  the  principles  of  criminal  law.  Indeed,  if 
this  last  proposition  be  not  true,  the  preceding  ones,  however 
true  and  universally  admitted,  would  in  most  cases  be  entirely 
inefficacious.  And  when  it  is  considered  that  the  jury  who  try 
the  cause  are  to  decide  upon  the  grounds  of  apprehension,  no 
danger  can  flow  from  the  example.  To  illustrate  this  principle, 
take  the  following  case.  A,  in  the  peaceable  pursuit  of  his 
affairs,  sees  B  rushing  rapidly  towards  him,  with  an  outstretched 
arm  and  a  pistol  in  his  hand,  and  using  violent  menaces  against 
his  life  as  he  advances.  Having  approached  near  enough,  in  the 
same  attitude,  A,  who  has  a  club  in  his  hand,  strikes  B  over  the 


254  MEMOIR   OF 

head,  before  or  at  the  instant  the  pistol  is  discharged,  and  of  the 
wound  B  dies.  It  turns  out  that  the  pistol  was  loaded  with 
powder  only,  and  that  the  real  design  of  B  was  only  to  terrify  A. 
"Will  any  reasonable  man  say  that  A  is  more  criminal  than  lie 
would  have  been  if  there  had  been  a  bullet  in  the  pistol '?  Those 
who  hold  such  doctrine  must  require  that  a  man  so  attacked 
must,  before  he  strike  the  assailant,  stop  and  ascertain  how  the 
pistol  is  loaded  :  a  doctrine  which  would  entirely  take  away  the 
essential  right  of  self-defence.  And  when  it  is  considered  that 
the  jury  who  try  the  cause,  and  not  the  party  killing,  are  to 
judge  of  the  reasonable  grounds  of  his  apprehension,  no  danger 
can  be  supposed  to  flow  from  this  principle. 

The  jury  renderc-d  a  verdict  of  not  guilty,  to  the  dis- 
appointment of  many  persons,  and  to  the  extreme  anger  of 
some.  None  could  deny  that  there  was  much  evidence  in 
Selfridge's,  favor,  and  still  less  could  it  be  doubted  that  the 
very  great  ability  and  eloquence  of  the  eminent  counsel 
Avho  defended  him,  Dexter  and  Gore,  aided  most  materially 
in  his  acquittal.  But  it  was  often  said  at  the  time,  and  lias 
been  sometimes  intimated  since,  that  my  father  assisted 
his  escape,  by  stating  the  law  so  as  to  favor  him  in  his 
charge  to  the  grand  jury,  which  prevented  an  indictment 
for  murder;  and  that  he  then  had  much  influence  in  deter- 
mining the  course  pursued  by  Judge  Parker. 

I  suppose  these  accusations  to  be  wholly  groundless.  They 
rested  mainly  on  the  statement  in  the  charge,  that  "if  the 
party  killing  had  reasonable  grounds  for  believing  that  the 
person  slain  liad  a  felonious  design  against  him,  and  under 
that  supposition  kill  him,  although  it  should  afterwards 
appear  that  then;  was  no  such  design,  it  will  not  be  mur- 
der, but  it  will  be  either  manslaughter  or  excusable  homi- 
cide, according  to  the  degree  of  caution  used,  and  the 
probable  grounds  of  such  belief."  There  can  be  no  ques- 
tion whatever,  that  this  was  a  careful  and  perfectly  accurate 
statement  of  a  principle  which  rests  upon  the  most  uniform 
and  indisputable  authority. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  255 

Mr.  Austin,  senior,  made  a  memorial  on  the  subject  to 
the  Legislature,  by  whom  it  was  referred  to  a  committee. 
The  Governor,  the  Senate,  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  the  committee  were  Democratic.  A  report  was  made, 
intimating  that  the  charge  did  not  go  sufficiently  into  detail ; 
and  there  was  some  reference  to  cases  and  principles  not 
mentioned  in  the  charge,  which  the  committee  thought  might 
illustrate  or  qualify  the  law  of  self-defence ;  but  no  censure 
was  cast  upon  the  court.  The  report  was  read  and  adopted, 
and  nothing  more  was  done. 

Some  fault  was  also  found,  although  not  much,  with 
another  clause  in  his  charge.  It  was  that  in  which  he 
uses  these  words :  "  And  he  is  not  obliged  to  retreat,  but 
may  pursue  his  adversary,  until  he  has  secured  himself 
from  all  danger  ;  and  if  he  kill  him  in  so  doing,  it  is 
justifiable  homicide."  No  one  disputes  that  there  is  high 
and  distinct  authority  in  the  adjudicated  cases  for  this  doc- 
trine. But  it  was  said  that  the  weight  and  current  of 
the  authority,  and  the  reason  and  principles  of  the  rule, 
required  that  it  should  be  stated  with  important  qualifi- 
cations, which,  were  wholly  omitted ;  as,  that  the  party  is 
not  obliged  to  retreat,  if  retreating  be  itself  dangerous  or 
useless.  And  in  the  charge  of  Judge  Parker  to  the  traverse 
(or  trial)  jury,  after  saying  that  the  party  assaulted  should 
retreat  as  far  as  he  could,  he  adds :  "  Secondly,  when  the 
attack  upon  him  is  so  sudden,  fierce,  and  violent  that  a  re- 
treat would  not  diminish,  but  increase  his  danger,  he  may 
instantly  kill  his  adversary  without  retreating  at  all."  It  is 
doubtless  true,  that  my  father  stated  the  rule  more  briefly 
and  succinctly,  because  all  he  had  to  do  was  to  give  such 
general  directions  to  the  grand  jury  as  were  necessary  for 
their  purpose,  leaving  to  the  judge  who  should  try  the  case 
the  duty  of  presenting  the  law  with  the  special  qualifications 
or  illustrations  which  the  facts  might  seem  to  require. 

I  do  not  suppose,  however,  that  he  intended  to  say, 
nor  have  I  any  evidence  that  he  was  understood  by  any 


25G  MEMOIR   OF 

one  to  say,  that  any  man  who  is  feloniously  attacked  is 
under  no  obligation  to  avoid  putting  his  assailant  to  death, 
if  he  can  avoid  this  by  safe  and  easy  retreat,  or  by  any 
other  mode  of  escape  ;  or  that  a  party  thus  attacked  is 
by  the  attack  itself  authorized  to  kill  the  assailant  at  once. 
Two  or  three  years  since,  I  read  in  a  newspaper  the  report 
of  a  trial  in  one  of  our  Southwestern  States,  —  I  think 
Arkansas,  but  took  no  memorandum  of  the  paper,  not  then 
intending  to  write  this  work,  —  in  which  the  judge  instructed 
the  jury,  that,  as  no  man  had  a  right  to  attack  another,  so  he 
who  was  attacked,  in  any  manner  threatening  death  or  griev- 
ous bodily  harm,  was  under  no  obligation  to  seek  or  use  any 
means  of  escape,  but  might  at  once  exercise  the  right  of 
self-defence,  and  put  his  assailant  to  death  ;  and  my  father's 
charge  to  the  grand  jury  in  Selfridgc's  case  was  cited  for 
this  rule.  But  neither  is  the  whole  case  open  to  this  con- 
clusion ;  nor  can  it  be  inferred  from  the  ruling  of  the  court. 
Besides  what  has  already  been  cited,  Judge  Parker,  at  a 
later  period  of  his  charge,  said : 

But  whether  the  firing  of  the  pistol  was  before  or  after  a  blow 
struck  by  the  deceased,  there  is  another  point  of  more  impor- 
tance for  you  to  settle,  and  about  which  you  must  make  up  your 
minds,  from  all  the  circumstances  proved  in  the  ease ;  such  as 
the.  rapidity  and  violence  of  the  attack,  the  nature  of  the  weapon 
with  which  it  was  made,  the  place  where  the  catastrophe  hap- 
pened, the  muscular  debility  or  vigor  of  the  defendant,  and  his 
power  to  resist  or  to  fly.  The  point  I  mean  is,  whether  he 
could  probably  have  saved  himself  from  deatli  or  enormous 
bodily  harm  by  retreating  to  the  wall,  or  throwing  himself  into 
the  arms  of  friends  who  would  protect  him.  This  is  the  real 
stress  of  the  case.  It'  you  believe,  under  all  the  circumstances, 
the  defendant  could  have,  escaped  his  adversary's  vengeance,  at 
the  time  of  the  attack,  without  killing  him,  the  defence  set  up 
has  failed,  and  the  defendant  must  be.  convicted. 

If  you  believe  his  only  resort  for  safety  was  to  take  the  life  of 
his  antagonist,  he  must  be  acquitted,  unless  his  conduct  has  been 
such  prior  to  the  attack  on  him  as  will  deprive  him  of  the  privi- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  257 

Icge  of  setting  up  a  defence  of  this  nature.  It  has,  however, 
been  suggested  by  the  defendant's  counsel,  that  even  if  his  life 
had  not  been  in  danger,  or  no  great  bodily  harm,  but  only 
disgrace  was  intended  by  the  deceased,  there  are  certain  prin- 
ciples of  honor  and  natural  right  by  which  the  killing  may  be 
justified.  These  are  principles  which  you  as  jurors,  and  I  as 
a  judge,  cannot  recognize.  The  laws  which  we  are  sworn  to 
administer  are  not  founded  upon  them.  Let  those  who  choose 
such  principles  for  their  guidance  erect  a  court  for  the  trial  of 
points  and  principles  of  honor  ;  but  let  the  courts  of  law  adhere 
to  those  principles  which  are  laid  down  in  the  books,  and  whose 
wisdom  ages  of  experience  have  sanctioned.  I  therefore  declare 
it  to  you  as  the  law  of  the  land,  that  unless  the  defendant  has 
satisfactorily  proved  to  you  that  no  means  of  saving  his  life,  or 
his  person  from  the  great  bodily  harm  which  was  apparently 
intended  by  the  deceased  against  him,  except  killing  his  adver- 
sary, were  in  his  power,  he  has  been  guilty  of  manslaughter ; 
notwithstanding  you  may  believe  with  the  grand  jury  who  found 
the  bill,  that  the  case  docs  not  present  the  least  evidence  of 
malice  or  premeditated  design  in  the  defendant  to  kill  the 
deceased  or  any  other  person. 

This  I  believe  to  be  the  law ;  and  although  I  am  sure 
that  Judge  Parker  stood  upon  his  own  ground,  and  ex- 
pressed his  own  sentiments,  yet  in  a  trial  of  such  magnitude 
and  interest,  and  involving  principles  of  so  much  impor- 
tance, he  would  undoubtedly  confer  with  his  colleagues  so 
far  as  he  had  opportunity ;  and  especially  with  the  Chief 
Justice  of  his  own  court,  between  whom  and  himself  there 
had  always  been  the  utmost  intimacy  and  confidence.  I 
should  infer  from  this,  if  it  were  necessary  to  resort  to  it, 
that  his  instructions  must  be  regarded  as  not  opposed  to 
the  brief  statement  of  the  law  in  my  father's  charge ;  and 
that  he  did  not  differ  at  all  from  my  father  in  his  view  of 
the  law. 

Chief  Justice  Parker  says  of  my  father,  in  his  charge  de- 
livered after  his  death :  "  In  the  administration  of  criminal 
17 


258  MEMOIR   OF 

law,  however,  he  was  strict,  and  almost  punctilious,  in  ad- 
hering to  forms.  He  required  of  the  public  prosecutors  the 
most  scrupulous  exactness,  believing  it  to  be  the  right,  even 
of  the  guilty,  to  be  tried  according  to  known  and  practised 
rules ;  and  that  it  was  a  less  evil  for  a  criminal  to  escape, 
than  that  the  barriers  established  for  the  security  of  inno- 
cence should  be  overthrown.  He  was  a  humane  judge,  and 
adopted,  in  its  fullest  extent,  the  maxim  of  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tice Hale,  that  doubts  should  always  be  placed  in  the  scale 
of  mercy."  In  a  capital  case  lately  tried  in  Boston,  emi- 
nent counsel  are  reported  to  have  said :  "  Judge  Parsons 
declared  that  a  man  had  a  right  to  quibble  for  his  life." 
My  colleague,  Chief  Justice  Parker,  informs  me  that  he 
heard  this  from  Chief  Justice  Kichardson,  a  long  time  ago. 

Among  his  law  papers  were  many  opinions  which  he  had 
given ;  and  some  of  these  were  published,  some  years  since, 
in  "The  American  Jurist."  He  also  left  many  essays, — 
if  I  may  call  them  so,  —  more  or  less  complete.  That  which 
I  thought  most  valuable  was  upon  the  Constitutionality  of 
the  Embargo.  It  covered  many  sheets,  and,  as  far  as  I 
remember,  was  entirely  finished.  lie  believed  the  embargo 
unconstitutional.  This  paper  was  lent  by  me  to  Chief  Jus- 
tice Isaac  Parker,  and  I  never  knew  what  became  of  it 
afterwards.  Many  persons  read  it  in  the  years  immedi- 
ately following  my  father's  death,  and  it  was  much  spoken 
of.  I  remember  that  he  went  into  a  full  consideration  of 
the  question,  how  far  the  right  to  regulate  commerce  could 
be  extended  by  construction  into  a  right  to  restrain  and 
suppress  it.  I  cannot  recall  the  line  of  argument ;  but  lie 
must  have  invoked  his  favorite  clause  of  the  Constitution, — 
that  which  reserves  to  the  several  States  all  powers  not 
expressly  delegated  to  Congress;  —  a  clause  for  which  he 
may  well  have  had  the  affection  of  paternity.  Whether  he 
valued  this  provision  too  highly,  time  will  show.  1  cannot 
but  think,  as  I  believe  he  thought,  that  it  is  to  this  prin- 
ciple our  country  —  if  it  is  to  remain  one  country  —  must 
look  for  political  salvation,  or  look  for  it  in  vain. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  259 

I  had  prepared  quite  a  large  number  of  extracts  from 
leading  cases  decided  while  he  was  on  the  bench,  with  com- 
ments, intended  to  illustrate  their  effect  and  their  value. 
But  I  have  concluded  to  withhold  them.  Lawyers  Avill 
understand  them  far  better  in  the  Reports,  in  which  they 
now  stand  in  full ;  and  to  readers  who  are  not  lawyers  I 
could  hardly  hope  to  make  them  intelligible  or  interesting 
in  any  way.  But  my  strongest  reason  is  my  distrust  of  the 
accuracy  of  my  judgment  in  regard  to  these  things,  and  my 
conviction  that  I  ought  to  distrust  it.  They  are  the  fruits 
of  my  father's  life.  It  would  be  wrong  for  me  not  to  rever- 
ence them  ;  but  it  would  also  be  wrong  for  me  not  to  re- 
member that  this  very  feeling  cannot  but  obscure,  and  per- 
haps distort,  my  perception  of  their  merits  and  their  defects. 
And,  instead  of  endeavoring  to  form  and  express  an  opinion 
of  my  own  in  reference  to  my  father's  influence  upon  the 
law  of  this  Commonwealth,  I  refer  to  the  printed  Reports, 
and  also  to  the  documents  in  the  Appendix. 


NOTE.  —  Since  these  pages  were  electrotyped,  I  have  received  from  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Sanger  a  letter  giving  me  two  anecdotes,  which  seem  to  illustrate 
some  parts  of  this  chapter,  and  I  will  try  to  compress  them  into  what  is 
left  of  this  page.  In  1806,  he,  then  a  collegian,  went  into  the  court-house 
while  the  Supreme  Court  was  sitting  in  Cambridge,  and  heard  Mr.  Sullivan 
argue  a  case,  apparently  of  much  importance,  at  great  length  and  very  ear- 
nestly. My  father  rose  to  reply,  and  said,  very  slowly  and  quietly :  "  This 
case  presents  three  points.  The  first  is  this ;  the  second  is  this ;  and  the 
third  is  this  " ;  —  stating  each  with  perfect  clearness,  but  occupying  less 
than  five  minutes  with  the  whole.  "  The  statement  and  argument  seemed 
as  clear  to  me,"  said  Mr.  Sanger,  "  as  any  demonstration  in  Euclid.  The 
jury  gave  your  father  a  verdict  without  leaving  their  seats."  The  next 
time  Mr.  S.  saw  him,  he  was  holding  court  in  Cambridge.  Mr.  Timothy 
Bigelow  (the  leading  counsel  of  the  county)  arose  to  a  case  with  many  pa- 
pers before  him,  and,  after  a  word  or  two  about  its  great  interest,  went  on. 
"Very  soon,  your  father  said  :  'Brother  Bigelow,  don't  waste  your  time 
on  that  point;  there  is  nothing  in  it.'  And  so  he  said  of  the  next;  and  so, 
too,  of  the  third.  Mr.  Bigelow  stopped,  and  with  some  irritation  said:  '  I 
regret  that  I  find  myself  unable  to  please  the  court  this  morning.'  '  Brother 
Bigelow,'  said  your  father,  with  a  pleasant  smile,  '  you  always  please  the 
court  when  you  are  right.1  And  the  case  was  disposed  of." 


260  MEMOIR   OF 


CHAPTER  YI. 

OF    HIM    AS    A    SCHOLAR. 

No  trait  or  quality  more  distinctly  and  emphatically 
characterized  his  mind,  than  a  universal  and  ardent  desire 
for  knowledge.  This  was  the  ruling  love  of  his  whole 
life ;  and  the  indulgence  of  it  constituted  nearly  all  his 
enjoyment.  I  have  called  it  universal,  because  it  not  only 
embraced  every  topic,  but  every  means  of  acquiring  infor- 
mation. Whenever,  by  business  or  accident,  he  was  thrown 
into  the  company  of  any  person  who  had  any  special  and 
peculiar  information,  he  never  rested  until  he  had  learned 
all  there  was  to  get ;  and  his  quickness,  extent  of  knowl- 
edge, and  habits  of  inquiry  enabled  him  to  obtain  this  infor- 
mation promptly  and  thoroughly.  Whether  he  annoyed 
people  by  thus  exhausting  them,  I  do  not  know.  I  never 
heard  that  he  did ;  and  in  the  instances  in  which  I  saw  him 
converse  thus,  his  pleasantry,  vivacity,  and  interest,  and  his 
facility  in  giving  as  well  as  receiving,  to  all  appearance, 
prevented  annoyance. 

Whenever  any  mechanics  were  employed  about  the 
house,  I  perfectly  remember  how  he  watched  and  studied 
them,  and  seemed  to  understand  their  doings  and  their  tools, 
and  the  whole  rationale  of  their  business,  better  than  they 
did,  as  I  have  hoard  them  say.  I  believe  there  was  no 
manufacture  or  mechanical  business  established  within  his 
reach,  that  he  did  not  examine  and  study  thoroughly.  I 
can  recollect  his  having  a  fireplace  constructed  with  a  sys- 
tem of  tubes,  to  receive  air  from  without,  and  give  it  forth 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  261 

when  heated.  It  was  made  of  soapstone,  from  his  drawings 
(which  I  now  have),  in  his  office,  after  he  went  on  the 
bench.  I  well  remember  how  he  busied  himself  with  an 
array  of  thermometers,  making  a  long  course  of  experi- 
ments, of  which  I  understood  nothing,  but  that  he  was  try- 
ing to  ascertain  what  was  the  saving  in  the  heat. 

So,  too,  learning  from  some  of  his  foreign  books,  and 
from  some  partial  importations  or  imitations  of  it,  the  suc- 
cess and  utility  of  Count  Rumford's  apparatus  for  cooking, 
he  imported  a  complete  set  of  it,  and  had  it  placed  in  what 
we  called  the  "  upper  kitchen,"  —  and  very  proud  he  was  of 
this  apparatus.  The  difficulties  springing  from  the  novelty 
of  it  and  the  ignorance  of  our  cook,  he  overcame  by  the 
most  patient  instruction,  until  at  last  everything  went  well. 
This  was  in  or  about  1807  ;  and  I  shall  never  forget  it,  for 
it  gave  rise  to  the  most  ludicrous  of  all  his  blunders  about 
words,  —  so  ludicrous  as  to  seem  incredible  ;  and  I  confess 
that  I  did  not  dare  to  write  until  I  had  conferred  with  my 
sisters,  and  found  that  they  too  remembered  it  perfectly, 
and  just  as  I  remember  it  myself. 

I  have  already  said,  in  speaking  of  the  peculiarity  of 
his  memory,  that  his  hold  on  mere  names  seemed  to  be 
as  weak  as  his  grasp  of  everything  else  was  strong  ;  and 
sometimes,  in  moments  of  inadvertence,  he  would  mis- 
call them  strangely.  "We  had  a  large  dinner-party,  for 
which  the  new  cooking-apparatus  proved  entirely  adequate. 
Judge  and  Mrs.  Seaver,  from  Kingston,  dined  with  us ; 
excellent  persons,  and  most  highly  valued,  but  very  de- 
cidedly of  the  old  school.  Her  brocade  dress  seemed  to 
me  as  stiff  as  tin,  and  her  manners  were  as  precise  and 
exact  as  they  were  elegant.  My  father  had  held  court  all 
the  forenoon,  and  was  trying  an  interesting  insurance  case 
about  a  schooner.  As  soon  as  he  came  home  he  was 
apprised  of  some  difficulty  about  the  aqueduct,  —  then 
another  recent  and  favorite  improvement,  —  which  he  has- 
tened to  remedy.  Very  soon  after,  dinner  was  announced, 


262  MEMOIR  OF 

and  Mrs.  Seavcr  took  her  place  at  the  right  hand  of  my 
mother,  with  my  father  at  the  opposite  end  of  a  long  table. 
Grace  was  said ;  the  company  sat  down ;  he  took  up  his 
carving-knife,  and  as  he  began  to  use  it,  cried  out  to  Mrs. 
Seaver,  with  great  distinctness,  "  Mrs.  Schooner,  all  the 
food  on  this  table  was  cooked  in  the  aqueduct."  As  I 
recall  the  scene  at  this  moment,  it  is  as  vivid  as  when  it 
passed  before  me  fifty  years  ago.  Delightfully  did  my 
mother's  consternation  contrast  with  my  father's  glee.  She 
said,  —  dropping  the  broad  fish-knife  from  her  hand,  —  and 
almost  screamed,  "  Lord's  sake,  Mr.  Parsons,  what  do  you 
mean?"  But  she  got  no  other  answer  than  a  long  and 
hearty,  not  to  say  uproarious  laugh,  in  which  all  the  com- 
pany joined.  Other  mistakes  of  this  kind  have  I  known 
him  make  ;  and  sometimes  my  mother  would  say,  "  I  do 
believe  you  say  such  things  that  you  may  laugh  about 
them."  And  he  would  answer,  "  By  no  means,  my  dear ; 
I  would  speak  as  accurately  as  you  do,  if  I  could."  I 
must,  however,  say,  that  any  other  thing  like  the  "  Mrs. 
Schooner"  mistake  I  never  heard  from  him,  nor  from 
anybody  else. 

My  father  sought  for  knowledge  of  every  kind,  eagerly, 
insatiably,  and  in  every  way ;  but  books  Avere  his  great 
means  of  information.  I  should  say,  that  he  had  a  perfect 
passion  for  reading.  I  have  heard  it  denied  that  there  is 
any  such  thing  as  a  love  of  reading  for  its  own  sake,  and 
without  reference  to  its  results.  I  should  as  soon  think  of 
doubting  whether  there  was  any  such  thing  as  a  love  of  eat- 
ing without  reference  to  its  utility  or  necessity.  Undoubt- 
edly he  read  to  learn ;  and  first  loved  to  read  because  he 
loved  to  learn.  Perhaps  that  process  which  Tucker,  in  his 
'•Light  of  Nature  Revealed,"  calls  "Translation,"  took  place 
in  his  mind.  In  that  charming,  but  rather  prolix  book, 
there  is  a  most  entertaining,  not  to  say  instructive  chapter, 
on  the  tendency  of  the  human  mind  to  transfer  the  pleasure 
it  finds  in  the  effect,  to  the  means  by  which  that  effect  is 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  263 

produced.  Thus,  one  who  takes  a  nauseous  medicine,  and 
gradually  finds  it  giving  him  relief  or  health,  will  as  gradu- 
ally be  reconciled  to  it,  and  soon  learn  to  love  it.  Tucker 
has  a  great  deal  of  curious  philosophy  about  this  tendency, 
which  is  very  amusing,  at  all  events.  Whether  my  father's 
love  for  reading  grew  up  only  thus,  I  cannot  say.  But, 
from  his  early  childhood,  a  book  was  the  thing  he  loved 
best.  If  ever  the  old  phrase,  "  helluo  librorum,"  was  appli- 
cable to  any  one,  it  was  so  to  him.  I  do  not  remember,  if  I 
ever  knew,  whether  this  phrase  originally  meant  one  who 
loved  to  accumulate  books,  or  one  whose  passion  it  was  to 
read  them ;  but  I  use  the  phrase  in  this  latter  sense,  although 
it  would  have  some  application  in  both. 

His  library,  for  that  day,  was  a  very  large  one.  I  believe 
it  contained,  altogether,  between  five  and  six  thousand  vol- 
umes, of  which  by  far  the  greater  part  were  imported.  No 
book  was  ordered  or  bought,  except  for  a  specific  reason, 
and  with  the  purpose  of  making  some  use  of  it.  They 
were  all  nicely  bound  and  well  cared  for ;  and  when,  at  his 
death,  the  library  was  sold  by  auction,  it  brought  more  than 
its  original  cost  with  interest.  Such  a  sale  was  then  without 
precedent,  and  has  not  occurred  since  that  I  know  of.  It 
was  ascribed  in  part  to  the  number  of  those  who  wished  to 
possess  memorials  of  him,  and  in  part  to  the  recommenda- 
tion which  a  book  derived  from  having  been  owned  by  him. 
But  I  think  neither  of  these  causes  could  have  operated 
largely ;  and  I  look  upon  the  sale  as  evidence  of  the  care 
and  skill  with  which  the  books  were  selected. 

His  use  ot  his  books  was  that  of  one  who  loved  them. 
"When  brought  down  from  the  library,  each  was  covered ; 
and  few  things  vexed  him  more  than  carelessness  about  a 
book.  He  read  with  marvellous  rapidity.  There  seem  to 
be  three  ways  of  reading.  One,  to  spell  the  words  as  the 
reader  goes  on,  recognizing  each  letter  by  itself;  this  is  the 
way  of  beginners.  Another,  to  take  into  the  eye  whole 
words  at  once ;  and  this  is  the  way  in  which  most  persons 


264  MEMOIR  OF 

read.  The  third  way  is,  to  take  in  whole  phrases  and  sen- 
tences at  once,  without  distinguishing  the  words  or  the  let- 
ters; and  this  is  the  way  in  which  those  read  who  have 
read  most,  and  have  learned  to  read  fastest.  This  was  the 
way  in  which  he  read  what  might  be  called  light  reading ; 
by  which  I  mean  books  which  do  not  require  the  reader  to 
pause  and  meditate  upon  what  he  reads. 

How  much  he  read,  that  is,  how  many  hours,  I  cannot 
say.  But  I  suppose  it  to  be  literally  true,  that  for  fifty 
years  he  was  always  reading  or  writing,  when  not  obliged  to 
be  doing  something  else.  He  had,  fortunately  for  himself, 
many  interruptions;  but  he  avoided  them  as  far  as  he 
could ;  and  there  were  weeks  and  I  believe  consecutive 
months,  when  he  passed  nearly  two  thirds  of  his  day  with 
books  and  papers. 

One  who  applies  a  quick  and  retentive  mind  to  various 
study  during  so  long  a  period,  must  necessarily  acquire  a 
great  amount  of  varied  knowledge.  To  his  contemporaries, 
this  amount  seemed  almost  marvellous.  Often  have  I  been 
told  that  his  knowledge  was  universal,  and  in  every  depart- 
ment complete.  For  example,  the  late  Mr.  John  Lowell, 
himself  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  eminent  men  of  his  day, 
frequently  said,  that,  while  my  father  knew  more  law  than 
any  other  man,  he  knew  more  of  everything  else  than  of 
law.  And  Chief  Justice  Isaac  Parker  has  said  to  me, 
that  he  thought  the  law  was  the  only  thing  my  father 
seemed  to  study  only  because  he  must.  He  never  went  to 
it  for  amusement ;  but  when  he  had  done  with  the  law 
whatever  needed  then  to  be  done,  he  turned  for  refreshment 
to  anything  else,  and  seemed  equally  at  home  everywhere 
else. 

Very  much  of  this  opinion  was  mistake  and  exaggeration  ; 
and  often,  as  it  came  back  to  my  father,  he  would  laugh  at  it 
himself;  for  he  was  no  such  impossible  prodigy,  and  knew 
the  limits  of  his  own  knowledge  better  than  any  one  else 
could  know  them. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  265 

Among  the  many  things  which  fell  within  his  cognizance, 
there  were  three  of  which  he  knew  most,  and  which  he 
loved  best  to  study.  These  were  Greek,  the  physical  sci- 
ences, and  mathematics. 

I  have  some  impression  that  he  had  always  paid  much 
attention  to  the  Greek  language ;  but  his  early  papers  are 
full  of  science  and  mathematics ;  nor  do  I  find  evidence 
there  of  any  diligent  or  critical  study  of  Greek,  until  after 
he  was  thirty  years  old.  The  family  tradition  is,  that  he 
undertook  to  make  himself  master  of  that  language,  when 
he  began  to  think  that  he  should  wish  to  assist  his  eldest  son 
in  his  study  of  it.  However  begun,  he  kept  up  his  interest 
in  this  study  until  his  death.  Whether  he  ever  became 
what  Johnson  would  have  called  "  a  man  of  much  Greek," 
I  do  not  know.  He  had  the  best  editions  of  "  the  authors," 
—  to  use  the  pet  phrase  of  our  good  Doctor  Popkin,  the 
late  Greek  Professor  at  Cambridge,  —  and  a  most  ample 
apparatus  for  the  study  of  them,  containing  all  the  best  dic- 
tionaries and  grammars ;  and  of  these  he  made  great  use. 

Until  near  the  close  of  the  last  century,  all  our  grammars 
of  the  Greek  language  were  written  in  the  Latin  language ; 
and  of  these  the  Westminster  Grammar  was  in  common 
use  in  England  and  in  this  country.  My  father  thought 
that  our  own  grammars  for  all  languages  should  be  in  our 
own  language.  In  reference  to  Greek,  however,  he  thought 
there  was  an  especial  reason  for  this  ;  and  this  he  found  in 
his  favorite  theory,  that  Greek  should  be  taught  first,  and 
Latin  afterwards.  This  theory  he  always  maintained,  some- 
times very  strenuously ;  and  at  one  time  he  thought  some- 
what seriously  of  urging  the  introduction  of  this  system 
upon  the  government  of  Harvard  College.  I  believe  I 
know  the  reasons  for  this  theory,  for,  before  he  died,  I  was 
old  enough  to  be  interested  in  them. 

They  were  generally  stated  thus.  Greek  is  not  much 
more  difficult  than  Latin ;  and  so  far  as  it  is  more  difficult, 
it  is  so  because  Greek  is  the  larger  language,  being  not  only 


266  MEMOIR   OF 

more  copious  in  words,  but  superior  in  grammatical  precision 
and  resources ;  the  Latin  being,  in  substance,  composed  of 
little  else  than  the  coarser  parts  of  the  Greek.  For  the  sci- 
ence and  philosophy  of  grammar,  or  what  may  be  called  the 
essential  principles  of  universal  grammar,  the  Greek  stands 
so  far  beyond  any  other  language,  that  there  is  almost  noth- 
ing in  the  grammar  of  any  other  European  language  which 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  Greek  would  not  help  one  to  un- 
derstand. 

In  the  next  place,  as  the  Greek  was  first  in  excellence,  so 
it  was  first  in  time.  It  borrows  nothing,  —  certainly  nothing 
from  Latin, —  but  lends  to  everything  else;  the  Latin  is 
very  much  composed  of  what  it  has  borrowed  from  the 
Greek ;  and  all  this  it  is  better  to  learn  as  it  is  in  situ,  so  to 
speak,  before  its  true  nature  and  meaning  become  disfigured 
or  disguised.  Latin  helps  one  comparatively  little  in  learn- 
ing Greek ;  whereas  the  Greek  almost  contains  and  implies 
the  Latin. 

Finally,  the  Greek  language  contains  the  most  admirable 
literature  of  almost  every  kind  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen ;  and  the  very  best  things  in  Latin  are  but  "  Greek 
and  water." 

That  Greek  might  be  learned  by  those  who  knew  only 
English,  the  first  requisite  was  a  Greek  Grammar  in  Eng- 
lish ;  and  this  my  father  undertook  to  prepare,  when  about 
forty  years  old.  lie  gave  to  it  most  of  his  leisure  for  a 
considerable  time,  and  had  it  nearly  completed  and  ready 
for  the  press,  when  the  Gloucester  Greek  Grammar,  which 
had  been  published  in  England  a  short  time  previously,  was 
reprinted  here,  about  1794,  at  his  earnest  recommendation, 
as  I  have  been  told  ;  and  then  he  laid  his  manuscript  aside. 
After  his  death  I  found  it,  or  the  greater  part  of  it,  (for  it 
was  in  sundry  parcels,)  and  kept  a  good  deal  of  it  —  all 
that  was  not  "conveyed"  away  by  one  person  or  another  — 
until  some  fifteen  years  ago,  when  a  friend  from  Worcester 
took  it  from  my  ofiice  in  Boston,  with  the  leave  not  asked 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  267 

but  taken,  which  antiquarian  collectors  sometimes  use,  and 
gave  it  to  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  at  Worcester. 
Their  very  civil  acknowledgment  was  the  first  intimation  I 
had  that  it  had  left  my  possession.  I  felt  no  disposition  to 
recall  it  from  such  excellent  hands  ;  and  there  it  has  been 
safely  preserved,  which  probably  Avould  not  have  been  the 
case  if  it  had  remained  Avith  me. 

It  will  be  seen  by  a  note  to  Chief  Justice  Parker's 
Charge,  that  Professor  Luzac  of  Leyden  spoke  of  my 
father  as  "  a  giant  in  Greek  literature."  How  the  corre- 
spondence between  my  father  and  Luzac  grew  up,  I  do  not 
know.  I  had  once,  as  well  as  I  can  remember,  interesting 
letters  from  the  Professor  to  him ;  and  here,  as  on  every 
other  subject  connected  with  my  father,  I  have  to  regret 
that  I  have  yielded  so  easily  to  the  voracity  of  collectors  of 
autographs  and  manuscripts,  for  I  have  but  this  left,  which 
I  now  publish  ;  saying,  by  way  of  preface,  that  Luzac  was 
Professor  of  Greek  in  the  University  of  Eeyden,  and  one 
of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Greek  scholars  of  his  day.  I 
remember,  but  very  dimly,  my  father's  grief,  when  the  news 
came,  in  1807,  that  a  vessel  laden  with  gunpowder  lay  in 
a  canal  at  Leyden,  and  by  some  accident  the  powder  ex- 
ploded and  destroyed  many  buildings  and  lives,  and  that 
Luzac  was  amongst  the  killed. 

Leyden,  July  17th,  1801. 
HOXORABLE  SIR: 

I  have  successively  been  employed  by  my  friend,  Mr.  Cremer 
of  Rotterdam,  with  whom  I  have  been  intimately  acquainted 
many  years,  to  execute  your  commissions  of  books,  by  getting 
them  from  one  or  two  of  our  principal  booksellers.  These  com- 
missions were  the  more  agreeable  to  me,  as  I  have  from  my 
youth  cultivated  those  letters  of  which  I  see,  dear  Sir,  you  are 
not  less  fond  than  myself.  After  having  practised  at  the  bar, 
both  in  our  courts  of  justice  at  the  Hague  and  at  Leyden, 
during  a  period  of  sixteen  years,  (in  which  time  I  became 
acquainted  with  your  worthy  late  President,  John  Adams,)  I 
was,  during  eleven  yeai-s,  Professor  of  Greek  Literature  and  of 
the  History  of  our  Country  in  the  University  at  Leyden.  After 


268  MEMOIR  OF 

that  time,  six  years  ago,  I,  who  had  always  been  a  friend  of  true 
republicanism,  was  obliged  by  our  modern  patrons  of  liberty  to 
resign  my  public  station,  if  I  did  not  choose  to  submit  to  their 
arbitrary  and  unjust  dictates.  You  will  see  my  principles  and 
sentiments  by  the  Discourse,  of  which  I  have  the  honor  to  pre- 
sent you  a  copy.  I  pronounced  it  at  the  very  time  of  the  French 
invasion,  when  I  had  the  misfortune  of  being,  in  a  most  dan- 
gerous and  troublesome  time,  at  the  head  of  the  University,  a 
few  months  before  my  resignation.  You  will  see,  Sir,  that  my 
boldness  was  not  of  a  nature  to  please  our  Democratieal  Gallo- 
manes ;  but  I  hope  those  principles  and  sentiments  shall  not  be 
judged  by  you  unworthy  of  a  member  of  your  Bostonian  Society.* 

You  ask,  Sir,  the  opinion  of  a  literary  friend  about  the  merits 
of  the  Deux-Ponts  Editions  of  the  Classics.  It  will  be  difficult 
to  give  it  about  them  all,  of  which  you  will  find  the  list  here 
enclosed.  I  do  know  by  perusal  but  a  few  of  them,  viz.:  the 
Plato,  which  is  a  very  good  edition,  taken  from  that  of  Stephanus 
or  Serranus,  with  critical  remarks  on  other  lessons  [readings] 
taken  from  the  manuscripts.  There  is  also  a  Thucydides  of 
Deux-Ponts;  but' there  the  war  obliged  the  Bipontine  Society  of 
Editors  not  only  to  stop  publishing  any  more  Greek  classics,  but 
(as  Deux-Ponts  was  frequently  taken,  retaken,  and  plundered 
out)  the  flames  destroyed  the  typographical  magazines,  by  which 
accident  those  editions  of  Plato  and  Thucydides  have  become 
more  difficult  to  be  procured  than  before.  As  for  the  Latin  clas- 
sics, they  arc  beautiful,  neat  editions,  on  good  paper,  and  gen- 
erally correct,  with  a  judicious  recension  of  former  editions,  the 
lifes  of  the  writers,  short  critical  annotations  and  collations  with 
the  manuscripts,  but  not  all  of  them  are  of  the  same  stamp  and 
exactness. 

If  I  can  be  of  any  service  to  you,  Sir,  I  will  employ  myself 
with  great  readiness  ;  and  you,  Sir,  —  you  will  excuse  the  bad 
English  language  of  a  foreigner,  who  nevertheless,  so  bad  as  it 
may  be,  does  assure  you  by  it  of  the  purity  and  sincerity  of  his 
esteem  and  sentiments,  having  the  honor  to  be,  honorable  Sir, 
Your  obedient,  humble  servant, 

JOHN  LUZAC. 

*  He  means  by  this  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
of  which  he  had  recently  been  made  a  member,  at  the  instance  of  my 
father. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  269 

In  1810,  my  father  induced  Mr.  Elisha  Clap  to  leave  a 
school  which  he  was  then  teaching  in  Sandwich  with  great 
success,  and  to  come  to  Boston,  where  twenty-five  schol- 
ars were  obtained  for  him  at  one  hundred  dollars  a  year 
for  each.  This  was  then  thought  a  great  price.  My 
father  interested  himself  very  much  in  this  school.  He 
caused  an  abridged  edition  of  the  "  Greek  Primitives  "  to 
be  published,  which  was  used  in  it ;  *  and,  either  at  his 
suggestion  or  with  his  approval,  a  method  of  learning 
Greek  was  adopted  there,  which  I  have  never  known  to  be 
carried  out  to  such  extent  elsewhere.  First,  the  Greek 
grammar  was  divided  into  four  nearly  equal  parts  ;  and  the 
scholar  was  required  to  commit  all  the  large  type  matter  to 
memory,  so  perfectly  that  he  could  repeat  the  whole  gram- 
mar with  but  four  verbal  mistakes  in  each  quarter.  That 
is,  the  boy  began  to  recite  at  the  beginning  of  the  grammar, 
and  went  on  until  he  had  made  his  four  mistakes  in  the  first 
quarter  of  the  book ;  then  he  stopped,  and  began,  the  next 
day,  a  little  before  the  place  of  his  last  mistake,  went  through 
that  quarter,  and  began  it  again ;  and  so  on,  until  he  could 
go  from  beginning  to  end  with  only  his  four  errors.  Then 


*  This  work  was  first  published  in  Paris,  in  1657,  under  the  name 
of  "  Le  Jardin  dcs  Ratines  Grccques,"  and  it  was  one  of  the  many 
learned  and  excellent  productions  of  the  Port  Royal  writers.  Dr. 
Nugent  published  a  translation  of  it  in  English,  in  1748,  in  a  largo 
octavo  volume.  This  my  father  imported,  and  liked  so  much,  that  he 
induced  Mr.  William  Wells,  whose  thorough  scholarship  fitted  him  for 
the  task,  to  prepare  an  abridgment  of  it,  with  some  additions  from 
Buttmann's  Grammar,  in  1811.  I  believe  the  book  was  never  generally 
used  in  our  schools.  My  friend,  Mr.  Charles  Folsom,  tells  me  that  he 
has  a  copy  of  the  original  French  work,  which  shows,  by  manuscript 
memoranda  upon  it,  that  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams  formerly  owned  it, 
and  in  1805,  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight,  when  he  was  a  Senator  of  the 
United  States,  after  having  been  minister  at  three  European  courts,  he 
committed  to  memory  the  two  thousand  and  more  French  verses,  each 
containing  a  Greek  root,  at  the  rate  of  thirty  a  day, — beginning  ou 
the  4th  of  July,  and  ending  on  the  13th  of  September. 
"  Perstat,  etinfixis  alte  radidbus  haeret." 


270  MEMOIR  OF 

he  took  the  next  quarter,  and  so  on  through.  When  the 
grammar  was  thus  learned,  all  these  "  Greek  Primitives " 
were  committed  to  memory  with  equal  thoroughness  ;  and 
only  after  this  was  he  permitted  to  begin  reading.  The 
theory  was,  that  the  grammar  gave  him  all  the  rules  and 
forms,  and  if  the  roots  were  then  acquired,  all  subsequent 
learning  consisted  in  applying  the  rules  of  formation  and 
syntax  to  the  roots.  Whether  the  theory  was  a  sound  one, 
I  do  not  know.  It  would  probably  work  better  now  that 
the  true  principles  of  Greek  grammar  are  more  accurately 
understood  than  they  were  then.  But  I  thought  the  method 
a  bad  one  then,  because  it  was  exceedingly  wearisome  ;  and 
I  think  so  now,  because  I  never  saw  any  very  good  scholar- 
ship produced  by  it. 

My  father  originated  or  promoted  the  publication  of  other 
books  ;  and  I  remember  particularly  how  much  he  was 
interested  in  the  edition  of  Griesbach's  New  Testament, 
published  by  William  Wells  and  William  Billiard,  in  1809, 
and  dedicated  to  the  President  and  Fellows  of  the  Univer- 
sity, as  having  been  undertaken  "  corum  hortatu  et  auxilio." 
It  was  reprinted  from  a  copy  which  Luzac  had  sent  my 
father,  and  which  he  furnished  to  the  publishers  for  that 
purpose.  I  have  at  this  time  the  presentation  copy  of 
Griesbach,  bound  in  morocco,  which  the  publishers  sent  to 
him,  in  return  for  the  copy  with  which  he  supplied  them. 
The  senior  member  of  the  firm  was  the  Mr.  William 
Wells  of  whom  I  have  already  spoken  in  a  previous  chap- 
ter, as  one  of  my  father's  intimate  friends,  lie  was  my 
own  earliest  school-teacher  ;  and  now,  after  fifty  years  have 
passed  away,  IK;  is  living  in  Cambridge,  my  neighbor,  hon- 
ored by  all  who  know  him,  and  loved  by  all  who  are  near 
him,  and  loved  most  by  those  who  are  nearest. 

My  father  never  sent  any  of  his  children  to  a  public 
school,  but  was  much  interested  in  them,  and  \vas  at  times 
quite  active  in  promoting  their  interests.  I  remember  (but 
very  imperfectly)  hearing,  when  a  boy,  of  a  conference  on 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  271 

the  subject  of  the  schools,  at  which  my  father  uttered  some 
sentiments  that  I  have  often  thought  of.  About  them  I 
have  no  doubt ;  and  so  far  as  I  can  recall  the  attendant  cir- 
cumstances, they  were  these.  There  Avas  a  movement  in 
the  town  of  Boston  (a  town  it  then  was)  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  schools,  at  a  considerable  increase  of  their  cost. 
There  was  much  opposition  to  it ;  and  at  a  meeting  of  gen- 
tlemen, some  of  whom  favored  it  and  some  did  not,  one 
wealthy  person,  of  much  influence,  spoke  almost  angrily  of 
what  he  deemed  an  attempt  to  make  him  pay  his  money  for 
benefits  which  went  to  others  exclusively.  He  sent  his  son 
to  Mr.  Clap's  school,  —  and  he  said,  in  substance  :  "  I  pay 
a  round  bill  there,  and  am  willing  to  do  so.  I  get  my  mon- 
ey's worth,  and  it  is  fair  that  I  should  pay  for  it ;  but  the 
public  schools  are  not  such,  and  will  not  be  such,  as  I  should 
wish  to  put  my  own  children  in  ;  and  why  should  not  they 
pay  for  them  who  profit  by  them  ?  "  As  I  have  heard  the 
story,  my  father  answered  :  "  You  are  mistaken.  You  will 
not  probably  want  these  schools  for  your  children,  and  pos- 
sibly they  will  not  want  them  for  theirs  ;  but  many  genera- 
tions that  succeed  them  will  be  sure  to  need  the  schools  for 
their  own  families,  for  they  are  in  all  probability  to  be  poor. 
In  this  country,  the  wheel  of  fortune  not  only  may,  but  must, 
revolve ;  faster  in  some  instances  than  in  others,  but  turn  it 
must.  The  rich  of  any  generation  are  the  descendants,  and 
generally  the  immediate  descendants,  of  the  poor.  Their 
descendants  will  in  almost  every  case  take  their  place 
among  the  poor,  in  one  or  two  generations  more ;  and  be- 
cause there  are  many  more  of  the  poor  than  of  the  rich, 
each  family  must  number  many  more  of  its  generations 
among  the  poor  than  among  the  rich.  If,  therefore,  you 
wish  to  provide  for  the  greater  number  of  your  own  de- 
scendants, provide  now,  permanently,  for  the  poor." 

I  confess  it  seems  to  me  that  this  principle  should  be 
remembered  in  reference  to  all  the  other  establishments  of 
this  country  for  the  general  good,  as  well  as  its  schools; 


272  MEMOIR  OF 

and  will  be  so  applicable  while  our  laws  and  institutions 
remain  unchanged  ;  and  that  the  almost  inevitable  hostility 
between  the  rich  and  the  poor  would  be  greatly  modified, 
if  not  prevented,  if  this  principle  were  distinctly  and  gen- 
erally recognized  by  the  rich  in  the  disposition  of  their 
property. 

While  my  father  greatly  preferred  Greek  to  Latin,  he 
had  a  complete  collection  of  the  Latin  classics,  —  of  some 
authors  many  editions,  —  and  read  and  wrote  the  language 
with  great  ea^e. 

The  first  I  ever  heard  of  my  father's  interest  in  scien- 
tific inquiries  was  in  relation  to  an  occurrence  which  took 
place  in  1790,  but  was  long  remembered  in  the  family. 
While  living  in  Newburyport,  he  had  imported  what  was 
called  a  AVoulfe's  Apparatus,  but  is  now  superseded  by  one 
of  the  same  name,  which  is  much  simpler  and  better.  By 
it  water  was  saturated  with  a  gas.  It  was  then  a  new 
instrument ;  and  he  was  using  it  one  evening  to  saturate 
water  with  carbonic  acid  gas,  (making  what  is  now  known 
as  soda  water),  gently  blowing  from  him  the  superfluous 
gas  as  it  escaped  from  the  top  of  the  apparatus.  My  mother 
came  up  without  his  knowing  it,  to  see  what  he  was  doing, 
and  stood  opposite  him ;  and  thus  he  blew  the  gas  from 
himself  to  her.  The  first  knowledge  he  had  that  she  was 
there  was  by  seeing  her  full  insensible.  He  knew  at  once 
what  the  cause  was,  and  carried  her  into  the  fresh  air,  where 
she  was  soon  restored.  This  became  one  of  the  family  sto- 
ries, which  I  often  heard. 

This  apparatus,  with  many  other  chemical  instruments, 
came  into  my  possession  after  his  death ;  but  I  never  saw 
him  make  any  use  of  them,  and  I  believe  he  did  not  after 
his  removal  to  Boston.  Chemistry  was  a  more  burden- 
some and  inconvenient  study  in  those  days  than  it  is  now. 
The  instruments  were  bulky,  and  experiments  were  difficult 
and  laborious.  L)r.  Wollaston  had  not  begun  to  practise 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  273 

that  "microscopical  chemistry,"  as  he  called  it,  by  which 
so  much  may  be  clone  and  learned  on  a  small  table.  My 
father,  for  these  or  other  reasons,  gave  up  experimenting, 
but  continued  to  import  and  read  chemical  works,  and  in 
this  way  kept  up  with  the  progress  of  that  beautiful  science  ; 
and  the  new  results,  which  in  the  beginning  of  this  century 
were  regarded  with  so  much  interest  and  hope,  were  often 
subjects  of  conversation  in  his  parlor. 

His  most  intimate  friend  among  scientific  persons  was  the 
Rev.  Dr.  John  Prince  of  Salem.  This  gentleman  found  or 
made  time  to  indulge  himself  in  a  most  engrossing  love  not 
so  much  for  science  as  for  the  instruments  of  science.  He 
not  only  had  tools  and  machinery  for  making  them  himself, 
but  imported  them  for  individuals  and  public  bodies  ;  and, 
for  some  years,  nearly  all  the  instruments  received  in  this 
part  of  the  country  came  through  his  agency. 

With  unsated  and  ever  new  delight  I  used  to  hear  that 
Dr.  Prince  was  coming,  or  had  actually  come.  His  visits 
were  not  unfrequent ;  but  I  was  sure,  whenever  he  made  his 
appearance,  that  some  new  instrument  would  come  out  to 
be  examined  and  tried,  or  some  old  ones  would  be  taken, 
and  new  trials  made.  Of  whatever  was  going  on,  I  was 
heartily  welcome  to  see  all  I  could,  if  only  /  touched 
nothing ;  for  this,  from  my  earliest  days,  was  a  condition 
absolute. 

Among  these  instruments  I  remember  best  a  set  of  ma"-- 

<~>  o 

nets,  an  electrical  apparatus,  his  great  telescope,  and  some 
small  microscopes,  with  one  very  superb  one,  called  Adams's 
Improved  Lucernal  Microscope.  This  is  now  in  our  fam- 
ily. The  case  is  some  two  or  three  feet  long  and  eight 
or  ten  inches  square.  Of  course  it  cannot  compare  with 
the  recent  achromatic  microscopes,  which  have  revealed 
such  wonders ;  but  for  the  extent  of  its  field,  the  large 
size  of  its  objects,  and  the  splendor  of  its  exhibitions,  it 
seems  to  me  even  now  to  have  advantages  over  any  that 
I  have  seen. 

18 


274  MEMOIR   OF 

Another  gentleman  with  whom  my  father  lived  in  great 
intimacy  was  Mr.  William  Bond,  the  father  of  Professor 
William  C.  Bond  of  Cambridge.  This  gentleman  was  born 
in  Plymouth,  England,  in  1754,  and  was  a  goldsmith  in  Lon- 
don ;  but,  in  1784,  transferred  his  property  and  his  family  to 
this  country.  lie  first  established  himself  in  Portland  (then 
Falmouth)  as  a  merchant  and  ship-owner,  but  in  1790  re- 
moved to  Boston,  where  he  resumed  a  part  of  his  old 
occupation,  and  stood  at  the  head  of  the  business  of  deal- 
ing in  Avatches  and  chronometers  until  he  transferred  it 
to  his  son  and  his  grandsons.  His  shop  in  Boston,  when 
my  father  moved  there,  was  in  Washington  Street  (then 
Cornhill),  opposite  the  Province  House,  and  but  two  or 
three  doors  from  Milk  Street.  Jt  was,  of  course,  very  near 
the  house  which  was  my  father's  home,  in  Bromfield's  Lane ; 
and  an  acquaintance,  which  began  with  his  procuring  for  my 
father  the  best  watch  for  astronomical  purposes  then  to  be 
obtained,  soon  ripened  into  personal  intimacy  and  regard. 
My  father  was  first  interested  in  him  as  an  ingenious  and 
very  skilful  mechanic,  and  as  of  great  use  to  him  in  that 
matter  ?o  important  in  practical  astronomy,  the  obtaining  of 
exact  time.  But  he  soon  discovered  in  Mr.  Bond  the  higher 
qualities  of  general  intelligence,  right  feeling,  and  perfect 
integrity ;  and  they  were  friends  as  long  as  he  lived.  Mr. 
Bond  survived  him  more  than  thirty  years,  dying  in  1844, 
at  the  age  of  ninety.  I  frequently  met  him  ;  and  there  was 
no  other  person  who  was  so  sure  always  to  remind  me  of 
my  father,  and  speak  of  him  in  terms  of  affection  and  re- 
spect. I  think  I  never  knew  him  fail  to  do  this  in  any  one 
instance. 

Mr.  Bond  sutfered  a  little  for  the  "Americanism"  which 
induced  him  to  migrate  to  this  country  as  soon  as  we  became 
a  nation.  While  living  in  London,  he  quarrelled  with  a 
man  who  was  abusing  "America,"  and  ended  with  knocking 
him  down,  and  was  duly  arrested  and  fined  for  this  breach 
of  the  peace.  lie  was  the  only  person,  as  far  as  I  know, 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  275 

who  can  be  said  to  have  fougld  for  us  in  England  while  we 
were  fighting  our  own  battles  here. 

The  watch  lie  obtained  for  my  father  has  a  long  second- 
hand traversing  the  whole  face  of  the  watch.  Professor 
Bond  told  me  that  this  was  quite  as  unusual  in  those  days 
as  chronometers  are  now.  We  have  this  watch  still ;  and 
well  do  I  remember  my  father's  frequent  use  of  it  in  his 
astronomical  observations.* 

No  event  of  my  childhood  stands  so  distinctly  in  my 
memory  as  the  great  eclipse  of  the  sun,  in  1806.  I  was 
then  nine  years  old ;  and  my  father  delighted  me  by  em- 
ploying me  in  some  of  the  very  subordinate  work  attending 
his  observations.  The  roof  of  our  house  was  flat,  and  there 
he  had  his  telescope,  which  was  the  best  that  Dr.  Prince 
could  get  for  him  ;  three  or  four  scientific  friends  were  with 
him,  and  most  careful  observations  were  made.  For  a  long 
time  before,  he  had  been  endeavoring  to  regulate  a  tall 
clock  which  Avas  screwed  up  in  the  corner  of  our  sitting- 
room,  and  the  watch  he  had  from  Mr.  Bond,  so  as  to  secure 
accurate  time.  He  had  calculated  this  eclipse  when  a  stu- 
dent in  college ;  and  then  it  seemed  to  be  ages  ahead.  As 
it  drew  near,  and  he  began  to  think  he  might  live  to  see  it, 
he  grew  very  nervous  about  it,  and  would  sometimes  laugh 
at  the  fear  which  he  could  not  shake  off.  When  the  event 

*  But  a  few  months  have  passed  since  Professor  William  Cranch 
Bond  related  to  me,  with  his  pleasant  smile,  these  anecdotes  about  his 
father.  Upon  my  return  home,  I  wrote  them  here.  And  now  I  have  to 
add,  that  on  Saturday,  the  29th  of  January,  1859,  he  died  of  an  attack 
of  angina  pectoris,  from  which  disease  he  had  suffered  at  times  for  many 
years.  The  ample  and  emphatic  testimonies  to  his  skill  and  accuracy 
as  an  observer,  and  his  high  rank  as  an  astronomer,  leave  nothing  to  be 
said  on  this  score.  But  we  have  lived  very  near  to  each  other  for  many 
years,  and  for  many  more  have  been  intimate,  as  our  fathers  were  ;  and 
I  had  almost  forgotten  the  eminent  man  of  science  in  the  neighbor  and 
friend,  whose  purity  of  life  and  character,  and  constant,  simple,  and 
unassuming  goodness,  won  the  confidence  and  affection  of  all  who 
knew  him. 


27G  MEMOIR   OF 

came,  and  passed  by,  I  believe  it  lifted  quite  a  burden  off 
from  him.  As  the  eclipsing  shadow  retreated,  and  light 
broke  forth  to  relieve  the  inexpressible  sense  of  untimely 
night  and  gloom  which  weighed  upon  all  on  whom  that 
shadow  had  fallen, —  animals  as  well  as  men, —  it  seemed 
to  brighten  his  face  with  more  than  his  share  of  the  univer- 
sal gladness. 

From  some  of  his  papers  which  I  have  preserved,  it 
would  seem  that  his  observations  of  this  eclipse  were 
communicated  widely  in  various  directions,  and  made  the 
foundation  of  important  calculations. 

The  electrical  apparatus,  which  I  mentioned  above,  was 
very  complete.  Most  of  it  I  have  now ;  nor  could  I  now 
get  anything  better  of  its  kind.  The  experiments  with  this 
apparatus  were  brilliant  and  startling,  and  therefore  to  be 
remembered  by  a  boy ;  which  may  be  the  reason  why  it 
seems  to  me  that  this  apparatus  was  in  more  frequent  em- 
ployment than  any  other  which  he  had.  Another  reason 
was,  that  he  made  much  use  of  it  for  his  rheumatism,  for 
which  it  was  once  thought  —  and  he  always  thought  it  — 
to  be  almost  a  specific. 

Among  other  things,  Dr.  Prince  imported  for  him  a  col- 
lection of  lenses  and  the  like,  for  optical  experiments.  I  do 
not  recollect  much  about  them  ;  but  I  remember  his  telling 
a  droll  story  of  the  effect  of  them,  when  he  lived  in  Xew- 
buryport.  In  that  town  there  were  men  of  education  and 
intelligence ;  but  my  father  stood  almost  entirely  alone  in 
his  love  for  physical  science,  and  his  strange  experiments 
sometimes  led  to  strange  results.  Dr.  Prince  had  supplied 
him  with  lenses  for  some  experiments  on  light,  which,  when 
placed  in  the  shutter  of  a  darkened  room,  threw  upon  the 
opposite  Avail  an  inverted  image  of  whatever  was  before 
them.  One  day,  a  domestic  was  sent  for  by  him  for  some 
purpose  while  using  this  apparatus,  and  at  the  moment  she 
came  in,  persons  were  seen  upon  that  wall  walking  with 
the  head  downwards.  She  retreated  as  soon  as  she  could, 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  277 

and  told  the  story  ;  and  he  was  obliged  to  change  the  room 
for  one  which  looked,  not  into  the  street,  but  into  his  gar- 
den ;  for  complaint  was  made  to  him  that  certain  persons 
of  the  fair  sex  were  afraid  to  walk  by  his  house !  This 
seems  now  not  only  absurd,  but  impossible ;  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  science  was  then  as  rare  as  it  now  is 
common. 

My  mother  was  fond  of  mentioning  another  anecdote, 
worth  telling  if  only  as  a  possible  solution  of  some  ghost 
stories.  They  were  travelling  together,  and  put  up  at  an 
inn.  Soon  after  going  to  sleep,  my  mother  awoke,  and  saw 
distinctly,  sitting  close  to  the  wall  at  the  foot  of  the  bed,  but 
at  some  height  above  the  floor,  a  woman,  knitting ;  and  ob- 
served her  draw  out  her  needle  and  put  it  in  again.  She 
awoke  my  father,  who  looked  a  moment,  and  noticed  that  he 
saw  the  wall  of  the  chamber  through  the  woman.  lie  rose, 
and  found  that  the  bed  was  against  closed  shutters.  Through 
a  small,  circular  hole  light  appeared  to  stream ;  and,  upon 
looking  through  this,  he  saw  the  woman,  that  is,  the  original 
woman,  sitting  in  a  chamber  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
street,  with  a  strong  light  close  to  her ;  and,  by  holding  a 
paper  near  the  hole,  and  then  carrying  it  slowly  towards  the 
wall,  he  showed  how  the  image  was  made.  The  next  day, 
they  ascertained  that  the  woman  was  watching  with  a  sick 
person. 

Another  time,  a  large  mirror  in  "  the  best  room,"  so 
called,  which  was  in  those  days  a  drawing-room  never  en- 
tered but  on  company  occasions,  broke  into  pieces,  with  an 
explosion  heard  in  the  adjoining  rooms,  when  no  one  was  in 
the  room  with  it.  My  father  satisfied  himself  in  some  way 
that  the  glass  was  not  perfectly  level,  and  had  been  pressed 
level,  and  kept  level  by  force,  in  the  frame ;  and  that,  while 
in  this  state  of  tension,  a  shrinking  of  the  frame,  or  some 
change  of  temperature,  had  broken  it.  But  the  superstition, 
then  prevalent  and  not  yet  extinct,  that  the  breaking  of  a 
large  class  is  an  omen  of  woe,  connected  itself  with  the  im- 


278  MEMOIR  OF 

pression  already  existing  about  my  father's  strange  doings, 
—  the  lenses  and  gas-making  experiment,  for  example,  — 
and  it  was  with  some  difficulty  that  the  domestics  were  kept 
in  the  house. 

Botany  was  among  the  things  he  studied,  especially  struc- 
tural botany,  —  such  as  it  was  in  his  day,  —  to  which  he 
applied  his  microscopes.  He  taught  this  to  some  young 
people,  as  I  shall  have  to  say  in  another  chapter ;  but  I 
have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  he  knew  much  of  this  sci- 
ence. He  discovered  the  Magnolia  ylauca  in  a  swamp  near 
Gloucester,  on  Cape  Ann,  about  the  year  1803.  At  that 
time  this  plant  was  not  known  to  exist  so  far  north,  and  that 
swamp  remains  its  northernmost  habitat.  lie  did  not  him- 
self know  the  name  of  this  beautiful  flower,  until,  having 
brought  it  home,  he  ascertained  by  his  books  what  it  was. 
He  had  in  his  library  many  botanical  works,  some  of  which 
were  very  costly. 

So,  too,  I  might  add,  that  he  had  a  collection  of  fossils 
and  minerals,  some  of  which  were  valuable.  But  they 
were  given  him  by  various  friends,  and  I  never  knew  him 
to  spend  much  time  about  them.  Some  forty  years  ago, 
I  gave  them  to  Dr.  Walter  Channing  for  the  Linncean 
Society,  of  which  he  was  then  an  active  member,  and 
which  held  its  meetings  and  kept  its  collection  in  a  large 
room  over  the  Boylston  Market.  What  became  of  them 
afterwards,  I  never  knew. 

Of  all  his  studies  that  of  mathematics  was,  I  suppose,  his 
favorite.  1  infer  this  in  part  from  the  mass  of  manuscripts 
which  he  left  on  various  mathematical  topics,  which  seem 
to  have  been  written,  the  earliest  in  his  preparation  for  col- 
leg*1,  some  in  college,  and  others  in  every  successive  period 
of  his  life.  They  are  the  earliest,  and  they  are  the  latest, 
which  I  have. 

There  is,  outside    of  these,  evidence   that  he   had  great 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  279 

knowledge  of  mathematics.  Mr.  Bowditch,  in  the  second 
edition  of  his  Navigator,  published  in  1808,  says,  in  the 
chapter  on  obtaining  the  longitude  by  lunar  observations: 
"  We  shall  now  give  a  third  method, being  an  im- 
provement on  Mitchell's  method,  which  was  published  in  the 
former  edition  of  this  work.  This  improvement  was  made 
in  consequence  of  a  suggestion  from  a  gentleman  eminently 
distinguished  for  his  mathematical  acquirements."  In  a 
foot-note  to  this  passage,  he  names  my  father  as  the  person 
from  whom  he  derives  this  improvement. 

In  all  computations,  a  frequent  change  from  corrections 
which  must  be  added,  to  those  which  are  to  be  subtracted,  is 
a  source  of  much  error.  It  is  especially  injurious,  when 
these  changes  must  be  made  by  sailors  unaccustomed  to 
computation,  and  who  have  to  ascertain  their  longitude  by 
working  out  lunar  observations  (in  which  calculations  are 
many  such  corrections),  in  utter  ignorance  of  the  reasons 
for  the  processes  they  use.  In  1847,  Mr.  Airy,  the  Astron- 
omer Royal  of  England,  submitted  a  paper  to  the  Royal 
Astronomical  Society  (Transactions,  Vol.  XV.  p.  329),  in 
which  he  says :  "  In  consequence  of  this  [frequent  change 
of  signs],  the  most  incessant  attention  is  necessary  to  secure 
correctness  of  signs  in  the  products  and  in  the  sums  of  the 
products ;  and,  in  spite  of  every  care,  a  greater  number  of 
errors  is  produced  by  this  cause  than  by  any  other.  It  has 
long  been  with  me  a  matter  of  earnest  desire  to  put  these 
corrections  in  a  shape  in  which  no  change  of  signs  should 
occur,  except,  of  course,  in  the  very  last  step,  by  which  the 
final  result  is  exhibited.  The  method  which  I  now  submit 
to  the  Society  does  completely  attain  this  object."  Now,  it 
happens  that  this  is  what  my  father  accomplished  by  his 
invention  in  1807 ;  not  so  completely  as  Mr.  Airy  did  in 
18-47,  but  to  a  great  extent,  and  in  a  very  similar  way.  It 
would  be  out  of  place  to  give  here  these  methods  in  full ; 
but  I  will  quote  two  or  three  lines  from  Mr.  Bowditch's 
account  of  my  father's  improvement.  lie  says  :  "If  either 


280  MEMOIR  OF 

of  these  angles  be  less  than  ninety  degrees,  the  corresponding 
correction  ivill  be  additive  ;  but  if  more  than  ninety  degrees, 
subtractive.  This  rule,  being  uniform  for  applying  all  the 
corrections,  makes  it  more  easy  to  be  remembered."  The 
Italics  are  Dr.  Bowditch's  own,  and  are  intended,  I  suppose, 
to  indicate  -what  he  considered  the  great  advantage  of  the 
new  method. 

Chief  Justice  Parker,  in  a  note  to  his  Charge,  states  that 
Mr.  Bowditch  received  communications  of  value  from  him 
on  the  subject  of  a  comet  which  had  then  recently  appeared. 

Mr.  Elisha  Clap,  the  schoolmaster,  loved  mathematics  as 
well  as  my  father.  I  remember  a  mass  of  papers  which 
they  seemed  to  be  working  over  together,  about  the  great 
comet  which  appeared  in  the  year  1807.  Mr.  Clap  spoke 
of  my  father's  discovering,  and  of  his  showing  to  him,  new 
methods  of  investigating  a  comet's  path ;  but  what  they 
were  I  know  not. 

Nicholas  Pike,  of  Xewburyport,  published,  in  1788,  a 
system  of  arithmetic,  which  my  older  readers  will  be  sure 
to  remember  as  "  Pike's  Arithmetic."  It  superseded  every 
other,  and  was  for  many  years  the  only  one  in  use  in  New 
England.  An  old  friend  of  my  father's,  Henry  Lunt,  Esq., 
formerly  of  Newburyport  (where  both  Mr.  Pike  and  my 
father  resided),  and  now  living  in  honored  old  age,  tells  me 
that  Mr.  Pike  said  to  him,  that  my  father  had  given  him  his 
most  useful  rules  and  methods,  but  had  forbidden  any  refer- 
ence to  him  in  the  book.* 

My  own  judgment  of  the  extent  and  character  of  his 
mathematical  knowledge  is,  that  he  certainly  was  not  a 
mathematician  of  the  same  rank  that  Dr.  liowditch  held, 
or  that  Professor  Peirce  now  holds ;  nor  do  I  suppose 


*  Again  I  have  to  speak  of  a  friend  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for 
assistance  in  preparing  this  work,  as  having  died  while  these  sheets 
arc  passing  through  my  hands.  On  the  4th  of  March,  185!),  at  Dor- 
chester, Mr.  Lunt  closed,  with  a  peaceful  death,  his  useful  and  honora- 
ble life. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  281 

that  this  would  have  been  possible,  without  a  nearly  exclu- 
sive, or  at  least  a  very  especial,  devotion  to  this  study.  I 
do  not  suppose  that  he  had  pushed  his  investigations  of  the 
calculus  very  far.  That  he  had  an  acquaintance  with  flux- 
ions I  know,  from  his  books  and  papers.  But  he  decidedly 
preferred  geometry,  and  gave  much  time  and  study  to  all 
its  higher  branches,  and  especially  to  their  applications  to 
spherical  trigonometry  and  to  practical  astronomy.  On 
each  one  of  these  topics  I  have  a  mass  of  his  papers. 

I  suppose  my  father  not  only  preferred  geometry  to  the 
calculus,  but  regarded  it  as  much  the  higher  thing.  I  must 
confess  it  seems  to  me  that  he  was  right ;  that  analysis  is  to 
geometry  rather  as  means  to  an  end ;  and  that,  however  cer- 
tain the  results  of  analysis  may  be,  they  are  results  reached 
as  it  were  by  machinery,  and  are  not  clearly  seen  or  clearly 
exhibited,  until  they  can  be  made  to  assume  a  geometrical 
form.  Of  course  I  do  not  deny  that  every  astronomer,  and 
perhaps  every  student  of  applied  mathematics,  must  use  the 
calculus,  and  that  many  of  the  greatest  discoveries  of  mod- 
ern times  were  made  by  this  instrument  alone,  and,  in  the 
present  state  of  human  knowledge,  could  not  be  made  other- 
wise ;  and  yet,  I  repeat,  geometry  seems  to  me  the  higher 
thing,  i  And  I  know  that,  in  saying  this,  I  state  the  conclu- 
sion of  other  intellects,  which  arc  more  capable  than  I  am 
of  bringing  the  whole  subject  within  their  contemplation. 

Some  of  his  papers  have  the  appearance  of  having  been 
nearly  prepared  for  the  press.  Others  are  evidently  at- 
tempts to  find  new  solutions  of  old  problems,  or  new  and 
better  methods  of  seeking  the  results  which  the  astronomer 
must  find.  Considering  that  all  this  was  a  matter  of  mere 
amusement,  that  it  occupied  but  a  corner  of  a  very  busy  life, 
and  that  he  actually  made  some  discoveries  and  inventions 
which  have  been  generally  adopted  and  found  useful.  I  think 
I  am  warranted  in  the  belief  that  he  had  a  considerable  de- 
gree of  the  mathematical  faculty,  and  found  very  great  en- 
joyment in  the  exercise  of  it.  This  enjoyment  grew  upon 


282  MEMOIR  OF 

him  with  advancing  age.  The  summer  before  he  died,  he 
was  very  busy  with  a  paper  on  the  theory  of  Parallel  Lines. 
I  insert  this  in  the  Appendix,  because  it  is  as  nearly  pre- 
pared for  the  press  as  any  other  mathematical  paper  which 
he  left,  and  because  it  was  his  latest  work,  and  also  because  I 
believe  it  has  some  merit  in  itself.  I  am  told  that  the  late 
Mr.  Scars  C.  Walker,  who  was  one  of  the  greatest  mathe- 
maticians of  his  day,  published  a  theory  of  parallel  lines 
quite  similar  to  my  father's.  I  never  saw  Mr.  Walker's, 
and  I  am  sure  that  he  never  saw  my  father's ;  for  no  eye 
but  my  own  has  fallen  upon  its  pages  for  more  than  forty 
years. 

Perhaps  I  am  moved  to  publish  it,  also,  by  another  cir- 
cumstance. It  was  written  —  as  I  shall  presently  have  to 
say  —  while  I  was  beginning  to  share  my  mother's  anxiety 
respecting  my  father's  apparently  breaking  health.  I  per- 
fectly remember  his  walking  up  and  down  our  long  sitting- 
room,  studying  this  very  paper";  and  when  he  went  out  of 
the  room,  my  mother  exclaimed,  ''  O  dear,  dear  !  how  I  wish 
your  father  would  forget  those  parallel  lines,  and  everything 
of  the  kind  !  " 

I  add  also,  in  the  Appendix,  a  paper  upon  the  extraction 
of  the  roots  of  Adfected  Equations,  which  is  one  of  the  many 
which  seem  to  have  been  prepared  as  if  for  the  press,  and, 
as  I  am  told  by  those  who  should  know,  contains  matter 
which  might  be  useful  now.  I  am  also  told,  that  the  princi- 
ples and  method  of  the  calculus  are  applied  in  this  paper, 
although  the  name  is  not  used. 

AVith  all  his  Greek,  and  Latin,  and  Physics,  and  Mathe- 
matics, lie  read  much  History,  and  was  a  great  novel-reader; 
or,  rather,  he  read  a  great  many  novels.  Chief  Justice  Par- 
ker, in  a  note  to  his  Charge,  says  that  "Judge  Tudor,  who 
was  the  classmate  of  the.  Chief  Justice  in  college,  and,  in 
the  college  phrase,  his  chum,  has  frequently  told  me  that, 
after  the  usual  exercises.  Parsons  was  in  the  habit  of  taking 
his  slate  and  amusing  himself  with  some  deep  mathematical 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  283 

calculation,  and  that  lie  would  vary  his  recreation  by  read- 
ing some  tale  or  novel,  it  seeming  indifferent  to  him  which 
of  these  amusements  first  fell  in  his  way.  I  have,  within 
the  last  seven  years  of  his  life,  found  him  indulging  the  same 
propensity,  finding  him  with  his  slate  and  pencil  so  deeply 
engaged  that  I  would  not  disturb  him  for  some  minutes  after 
my  entrance ;  and  not  unfrequently  as  deeply  engaged  in 
some  modern  novel  or  other  work  of  fancy."  In  the  Charge 
itself,  he  speaks  of  this  matter  more  accurately.  lie  says  : 
'•When  fatigued  with  the  labor  of  deep  legal  research,  or 
exhausted  by  a  continued  train  of  thought  upon  one  subject, 
it  was  not  uncommon  for  him  to  relax  his  mind  with  some 
abstruse  arithmetical  or  geometrical  demonstration,  or  to 
turn  over  the  pages  of  some  popular  and  interesting  novel." 
This,  I  think,  is  the  truth.  My  father  did  not  take  up  a 
novel,  or  a  work  of  philosophy  or  science,  as  one  or  the 
other  happened  to  be  within  reach.  But  when  he  was  fa- 
tigued, and  especially  in  the  evening,  when  what  would 
otherwise  have  been  amusement  became  a  labor,  he  turned 
to  that  which  was  never  a  labor,  —  to  history  or  to  novels. 
I  have  now,  for  instance,  a  manuscript  book  of  his,  of  thirty- 
six  pages,  containing  an  abstract  of  Robertson's  History  of 
Scotland,  beside  fragments  of  similar  compositions.  Some 
of  his  children  inherited  his  love  of  reading,  and  as  he  put 
little  restraint  upon  it,  and  there  were  circulating  libraries 
within  reach,  (not  to  say  that  his  own  library  contained  a 
complete  collection  of  the  classical  English  novels  of  that 
day,  imported  by  him,)  there  were  always  novels  lying 
about  the  house ;  and  none,  I  think,  ever  went  out  of  the 
house  without  his  trying  them.  Of  some,  a  few  pages  suf- 
ficed ;  of  others,  he  would  read  more  or  all,  but  always 
rapidly.  And  in  the  course  of  an  evening  many  such  vol- 
umes would  be  despatched. 

Of  poetry  he  did  not,  I  believe,  read  much ;  but  he  was 
tolerably  familiar  with  the  older  English  poets.  His  favor- 
ite was  Pope ;  by  which  I  mean  only  that  he  quoted  him 


284  MEMOIR  OF 

more  freely,  and  gave  him  more  praise,  than  any  other. 
One  of  my  sisters,  who  is  a  few  years  older  than  I  am, 
remembers  his  repeating  the  whole  of  Pope's  Messiah, 
one  evening,  to  his  children.  If  present,  I  was  too  young 
to  notice  it  sufficiently  to  remember  the  occurrence.  It 
seems  to  me,  indeed,  that  poetry,  of  every  kind,  stood  rather 
low  in  his  regard. 

In  speaking  of  him  as  a  man  of  letters,  I  must  not  forget 
to  say  that  he  was  one  of  those  who  originated  the  Boston 
Athenaeum,  in  the  year  1807.  I  look  upon  this  institution 
with  so  much  respect ;  it  has  manifested  so  much  strength 
in  overcoming  the  obstacles  and  perils  which  have  beset  it ; 
it  has  approved  itself  so  well  adapted  to  the  actual  wants  of 
the  community,  as  is  shown  by  the  liberal  support  it  has  re- 
ceived ;  and  at  this  moment  has  so  firm  a  foundation,  and  rests 
its  claims  for  continued  support  upon  so  much  utilitv,  that  I 
deem  it  most  honorable  to  my  father  that  he  was  one  among 
those  who  assisted  it  in  its  beginning.  But  lie  was  only  one 
among  them,  and  was  far  from  the  foremost.  There  were 
others  who  were  much  more  active  than  he  was,  if  I  do  not 
mistake,  in  bringing  it  into  being,  and  in  nursing  its  infancy. 
lie  was  the  first  President ;  but  this  office  was  given  him, 
probably,  because  of  his  social  and  literary  position,  rather 
than  because  he  was  chief  among  its  founders. 

A  letter  of  the  late  Governor  Sullivan,  written  to  a  friend 
in  1785,  says  that  my  father  had  received  an  appointment 
as  Professor  of  Law  in  Harvard  University.  I  should  have 
been  glad  to  verify  this.  It  would  have  interested  me  much 
to  know  that  I  have  now  held  for  ten  years  a  place  to  which 
he  was  invited.  But  T  can  find  not  the  slightest  evidence 
of  it  on  the  College  IJecords,  and  from  what  I  am  told  of 
the  usages  of  the  Corporation  at  that  time,  I  suppose  that 
the  appointment  was  ollered  to  my  father,  but,  not  being 
accepted  by  him,  it  did  not  appear  upon  the  records,  as  a 
formal  vote. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  285 

In  1804,  he  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from 
Harvard  College.  The  letter  announcing  this  to  him  hap- 
pens to  be  preserved ;  and  I  give  it  below,  to  show  the 
curious  mistake  which  good  President  Willard  made  in 
writing  it.  It  was  a  mistake  my  father  never  profited  by. 
He  had  great  respect  for  the  honor  indicated  by  the  letters 
D.  D.,  but  I  am  quite  sure  that  he  never  availed  himself 
of  the  President's  permission  to  append  them  to  his  name. 

Harvard  College,  August  31,  1804. 
Sin: 

It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I  officially  acquaint  you,  that  the 
Corporation  and  Overseers  of  Harvard  College  have  conferred 
on  you  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  which  was  publicly  an- 
nounced on  Commencement  day,  the  29th  instant. 

I  hope  this  degree  will  not  be  unacceptable  to  you,  as  I  am  sure 
it  will  be  pleasing  to  the  community  at  large,  who  have  long 
known  the  high  rank  you  have  holden  in  the  republic  of  litera- 
ture and  science,  and  your  profound  knowledge  in  everything 
respecting  your  profession. 

This  official  communication  will  authorize  you  to  take  the  title 
of  D.  1).,  should  it  be  agreeable  to  you. 

I  am,  Sir,  in  the  name  and  behalf  of  the  Corporation  of  Har- 
vard College, 

Your  humble  servant, 

JOSKPII  WILLARD,  President. 

TiiKorniLus  PARSONS,  ESQ.,  LL.  D. 

The  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred  upon  him 
also  by  Brown  University,  in  1809. 

In  1806  he  was  chosen  a  Fellow  of  Harvard  College.  Our 
Alma  Mater  was  incorporated  in  1 G50  ;  and  was  for  so  long 
a  time  almost  the  only  corporation,  excepting  towns,  &c., 
and  for  a  considerable  subsequent  period  the  principal  cor- 
poration of  the  State,  that  when  I  was  a  boy,  and  for  many 
years  afterwards,  "the  Corporation,"  in  common  conversa- 
tion, always  meant  the  College  Corporation ;  and  to  be  a 


286  MEMOIR  OF 

Fellow  of  the  College  was  to  be  a  member  of  "  the  Cor- 
poration." Indeed,  this  use  of  the  word  has  not  yet  dis- 
appeared, although  persons  away  from  Cambridge,  and  young 
men  when  they  speak  of  it  even  in  Cambridge,  generally 
now  qualify  it  as  the  College  Corporation. 

He  remained  a  Fellow  until  a  short  time  before  his 
death.  During  this  period  he  took  a  very  great  interest  in 
the  College,  and  freely  gave  to  it  whatever  time  and  what- 
ever attention  the  duties  of  the  office  required.  The  most 
important  thing  he  did  was  in  helping  to  make  Dr.  Kirk- 
land  President.  There  were  many  candidates  ;  and  some 
of  these  were  very  prominent  men.  The  high  qualities  of 
Dr.  Kirkland,  and  his  peculiar  fitness  for  the  office,  would 
very  probably  have  pointed  him  out  to  the  Corporation 
and  secured  his  election.  But  it  was  understood  that  my 
father  was  from  the  beginning  most  decided  in  his  favor.  I 
remember  when  some  one  came  into  the  house  and  informed 
him  that  President  Webber  —  who  had  held  that  office  but 
four  years  —  while  stooping  in  his  study  to  pick  up  a  pin 
from  the  carpet,  had  fallen  forward  dead  (from  the  rupture  of 
a  vessel  in  the  head,  as  was  afterwards  ascertained).  I  think 
I  remember  also  hearing  Dr.  Kirkland's  name  mentioned  in 
our  house,  that  day,  as  the  man  who  must  be  the  next  Pres- 
ident. I  am  not  sure  of  this,  because  I  do  not  remember 
how  it  was  said ;  but  I  am  certain  that  it  was  generally  un- 
derstood, almost  at  once,  where  my  father's  choice  lay.  It 
was  a  matter  we  were  all  interested  in.  Kirkland  was  our 
pastor ;  and,  as  I  was  preparing  for  college,  I  listened  care- 
fully to  everything  Avhich  indicated  who  was  to  be  my  Pres- 
ident, and  made  up  my  mind  about  it  very  early.  I  suppose 
my  father's  influence  in  favor  of  Kirkland  was  the  greater, 
because  every  one  knew  that  he  made  in  this  a  great  per- 
sonal sacrifice  to  the  good  of  the  College.  Very  few  things 
did  he  ever  appear  to  regret  more  than  the  loss  of  Kirk- 
land's  intimate  and  frequent  companionship. 

It  has  been  said  to  me,  that  my  father  insisted  upon  Kirk- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  287 

land's  appointment  in  the  belief  that  he  would  give  to  the 
College  new  life ;  that  is,  not  only  more  life,  but  a  new  kind 
of  life.  It  had  been  separated  from  society,  and  was,  in  its 
seclusion  at  least,  almost  a  monastic  establishment.  But 
Kirkland,  although  a  clergyman,  was  —  I  use  the  phrase  in 
its  good  sense,  for  it  has  such  a  sense  —  a  thorough  man  of 
the  world.  lie  was  not  so  much  a  member  of  society  as  a 
master  of  it ;  and  he  brought  the  College  at  once  into  the 
closest  relations  with  men  and  institutions  which  could  be 
useful  to  it.  I  have  no  doubt  iny  father  expected  this,  and 
promoted  it,  and  was  glad  of  it.  But  I  have  some  doubts 
about  something  else  which  has  also  been  imputed  to  him  in 
connection  with  the  College. 

It  has  been  said,  for  example,  that  this  was  the  turning 
point  in  the  religious  history  of  the  College ;  that  it  was 
trembling  on  the  verge,  and  could  with  equal  ease  have 
been  turned  back  to  its  original  Orthodoxy,  or  confirmed  in 
its  new  Unitarianism ;  and  that  he,  being  a  Unitarian,  de- 
termined upon  this  last  result,  and  made  use  of  Dr.  Kirk- 
land  as  a  means  for  producing  it;  and  that  the  Unitarianism 
of  Cambridge,  from  that  day  to  this,  is  due  to  the  success  of 
my  father's  efforts.  If  this  be  true  at  all,  I  think  it  is  so 
only  with  much  qualification.  How  far  my  father  was  a 
Unitarian,  I  shall  say  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  now  remark- 
ing only,  that,  so  far  as  Unitarianism  means  only  non-Cal- 
vinism, he  was  most  certainly  a  Unitarian ;  and  I  have  no 
doubt  Avhatever  that  he  desired  to  prevent  the  College  from 
being  exclusively,  and  in  a  sectarian  way,  Calvinistic ;  and 
that  Kirkland's  sympathy  with  him  on  these  points  was  one  of 
the  grounds  of  his  preference.  But  I  am  sure  that  he  did  not 
wish  to  make  the  College  Unitarian  in  a  sectarian  sense.  I 
have  not  the  slightest  evidence  or  reason  for  believing  that 
he  was  a  bigot  for  or  against  any  form  of  religious  belief  or 
worship.  He  had  chosen  one  for  himself  which  he  thought 
the  best,  and  might  naturally  and  properly  desire  that  it 
should  have  fair  play,  and  a  reasonable  opportunity  of  pro- 


288  MEMOIR  OF 

senting  itself  to  those  who  might  prefer  it  just  as  he  did. 
But  I  am  certain  that  he  did  not  wish  to  give  even  to  his 
own  faith  undue  superiority  or  dominion,  or  anything  in 
the  nature  of  exclusive  rights  ;  and,  if  this  were  the  place 
to  speak  of  my  Alma  Mater,  gladly  would  I  offer  my 
testimony  to  the  entire  impartiality,  and  absolute  freedom 
from  all  regard  to  religious  preference,  with  which  all  the 
affairs  of  the  University  and  all  its  Schools  are  conducted, 
excepting  only  the  Divinity  School,  which  was  a  special 
creation,  formed  for  a  special  purpose,  by  the  contribution  of 
certain  individuals. 

In  a  word,  I  am  willing  to  admit  so  much  of  this  last 
reproach  upon  my  father  as  to  say,  that  he  desired  to  make 
old  Harvard  just  what  it  is,  in  point  of  religious  freedom ; 
that  being,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  just  what  it  should  be ;  and, 
most  certainly,  I  am  not  a  Unitarian,  in  any  common  or 
technical  sense  of  that  word. 

Kirkland  and  my  father  were  bound  together  by  the  clos- 
est friendship ;  and  Kirkland  seemed  to  me  almost  as  a  sec- 
ond father.  lie  was  more  often  and  more  intimately  in  our 
house  than  in  any  other,  scarcely  excepting  that  which  he 
called  his  home.  When  I  entered  College,  in  1811,  I  went 
at  once  into  his  family,  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  remained 
there  during  my  four  years.  But  however  well  I  may  have 
known  him,  I  should  have  distrusted  my  own  personal  feeling 
too  much  to  say  of  him  what  I  think  is  true,  if  it  had  not 
happened  that  all  my  peculiar  opportunities  for  judging  of 
him  only  defined  and  deepened  in  me  the  same  sentiments 
that  he  inspired  in  all  others. 

J)r.  Kirkland  was  not  a  man  of  profound  learning,  nor  of  a 
great  variety  of  acquirements.  Although  he  was  capable  of 
considerable  application  for  a  time,  his  habits  were  not  those 
of  a  student,  and.  indeed,  his  general  indolence  was  obvious 
and  undeniable.  But  he  had  a  knowledge  of  character,  a 
power  of  penetrating  into  motives  and  purposes,  and  a  saga- 
city in  his  judgment  of  persons  and  of  things,  and  in  his  adap- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  289 

tation  of  means  to  an  end,  which,  within  my  own  observation, 
have  never  been  equalled.  This  vigorous  and  penetrative 
intellect,  which  gave  him  a  great  mastery  over  all  who  ap- 
proached him,  was  never  with  him  a  servant  of  ambition, 
either  in  the  form  of  love  of  fame  or  love  of  power.  To 
these  things  he  was  indifferent.  The  characteristic  which 
marked  him  out  from  other  men,  and  made  him  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  persons  of  his  age,  was  the  marvellous 
union  of  intellectual  force  and  faculties  surpassed  by  none, 
with  the  most  simple  and  unassuming  manners,  and  a  kind- 
ness, a  warm,  affectionate,  universal,  and  unfailing  kind- 
ness, so  far  as  I  have  observed  equalled  by  none.  He 
was  thoroughly  disinterested.  He  had  no  capacity  for 
meanness,  no  sly  look-out  for  self,  no  small  contrivance  to 
bring  things  round  to  his  own  profit.  Unmarried,  with  a 
good  income,  and  no  habits  of  personal  expense,  he  gave 
away  more  than  he  spent,  and  gave  with  a  cordiality  and 
unreserve  that  made  the  gift  tenfold  more  welcome.  Nor 
was  it  money  only  that  he  gave  ;  for  that  kind  of  liberality 
comes  sometimes  from  indifference,  as  much  as  from  gener- 
osity. But,  busy  as  he  was,  he  gave  his  time ;  and,  indo- 
lent as  he  was,  he  gave  his  labor ;  and,  careless  as  he  was  of 
his  own  interests,  he  gave  patient  thought  and  anxious  con- 
sideration, when  by  any  of  these  things  he  could  help  them 
who  needed  help. 

He  was  a  great  man,  and  impressed  himself  as  one  upon 
all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  But  in  the  truthfulness 
and  tenderness  of  his  affections  he  was  a  child.  He  did  not 
marry  until,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six,  a  palsy  had  stricken 
down,  not  his  health  only,  but  his  relations  with  life ;  and 
until  that  hour  the  students  of  the  College  were  as  his  chil- 
dren. I  doubt  if  any  one  ever  left  him  without  the  convic- 
tion, that  whatever  President  Kirkland  could  do  for  him 
was  sure  to  be  done. 

He  Avas  a  writer  of  great  excellence,  and  published  some 
papers,  of  Avhich  his  Life  of  his  intimate  friend,  Fisher  Amesr 
19 


290  MEMOIR  OF 

was  perhaps  the  best;  but  he  could  never  be  induced  to 
undertake  the  labor  necessary  for  an  extensive  work. 

As  President  of  the  College,  with  all  his  various  and 
abounding  merit,  he  had  one  fault.  He  acted  upon  no  defi- 
nite system ;  or  if  he  had  one,  it  was  a  system  known  only 
to  himself,  and  which  only  he  could  carry  out.  He  had  few 
rules ;  and  no  predetermined  method  of  procedure  for  any 
case.  Perhaps  he  needed  none  ;  for,  so  perfect  was  his 
sagacity  in  meeting  every  exigency  as  it  came,  that  he 
might  have  been  hampered  and  hindered  by  rules  or  a 
system.  lie  certainly  did  suppress  disorder,  and  carry  on 
the  affairs  of  the  College  with  unexampled  felicity.  His 
carelessness  about  money  was  another  fault.  It  was  cer- 
tainly extreme ;  and  sometimes  it  exposed  him  to  mis- 
construction from  those  who  were  unable  to  comprehend 
how  a  sensible  man  could  be  so  ignorant  of  the  value  of  this 
great  regulator  of  human  affairs,  as  to  keep  no  accounts. 

During  Kirkland's  presidency  the  College  flourished  as  it 
had  never  done  before.  Gifts  flowed  in  from  every  side ; 
and  much  of  this  liberality  was  undoubtedly  due  to  the 
President's  power  of  persuasion,  and  to  the  affection  and 
respect  generally  entertained  for  him.  But  my  father  was 
neither  idle  nor  unsuccessful  where  anything  could  be  done 
for  its  benefit ;  and  I  have  always  understood  that  the 
grant  of  the  Legislature,  by  which,  after  a  cessation  of  as- 
sistance from  the  State  for  twenty-eight  years,  $100,000  was 
given  (S  10,000  a  year  for  ten  years),  although  not  consum- 
mated until  after  his  death,  was  owing  in  a  good  degree  to 
his  exertions.  But  I  have  no  especial  evidence  of  this. 

My  father  was  active  in  another  matter  of  some  moment 
to  the  College.  By  the  charter,  or  rather  act  of  1G42,  the 
Board  of  Overseers  consisted  of  the  Governor,  the  Deputy- 
Governor,  the  President  of  the  College,  and  the  teaching 
elders  of  Cambridge,  Watertown,  Charlcstown,  Boston, 
Roxbury,  and  Dorchester.  In  the  Convention  for  forming 
the  State  Constitution,  a  sub-committee  was  appointed  by 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  291 

the  general  committee  to  confer  with  the  President  and 
Fellows  on  the  subject  of  the  College.  Articles  I.  and  II. 
of  Section  I.  Chapter  V.,  establishing  the  Corporation,  were 
reported  as  prepared  by  the  President  and  Fellows.  Of 
Article  III.,  concerning  the  Overseers,  John  Adams  pre- 
pared the  first  part,  which  constituted  the  Board  much  as  it 
had  been  under  the  charter.  Then  Caleb  Strong  prepared 
a  provision  that  the  Legislature  should  always  have  the 
same  power  to  make  alterations  in  the  government  of  the 
University,  conducive  to  its  advantage,  that  the  Provincial 
Legislature  had  possessed.  Strong  added  this  provision 
because  it  was  even  then  believed  that  it  would  soon  become 
necessary  to  make  some  material  alteration  in  the  Board 
of  Overseers.  As  soon  as  my  father  became  a  Fellow  of 
the  College,  he  prepared  a  bill  for  the  purpose  of  making 
such  an  alteration,  which  passed  through  the  Legislature 
at  once.  By  this,  the  Board  of  Overseers  was  composed 
of  the  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  President  of 
the  Senate,  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  the  President  of  the 
College,  and  fifteen  ministers  of  Congregational  churches 
within  the  State,  and  fifteen  laymen,  all  of  these  thirty  to 
be  elective.  There  Avas  a  provision  in  the  bill,  that  it 
should  take  effect  when  accepted  by  the  Corporation,  and 
also  by  the  Overseers.  The  bill  was  passed  March  6,  1810. 
The  Corporation  formally  accepted  it  on  the  IGth  of  the 
same  month,  and  the  Overseers  accepted  it  on  the  12th  of 
the  following  April. 

Before  this  bill  had  been  in  operation  quite  two  years,  on 
the  29th  of  February,  1812,  it  was  repealed,  and  the  old 
Board  restored.  This  was  done,  not  only  without  any  re- 
quest or  suggestion  from  the  Corporation  or  Overseers,  or 
any  concurrence  or  approval  on  their  part,  but  directly 
against  their  wishes,  and  what  may  be  regarded  as  their 
protest.  In  1811,  when  this  proposed  repeal  was  in  agita- 
tion, the  Corporation  appointed  "President  Ivirkland  and 
Mr.  Parsons "  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial,  with  an 


292  MEMOIR  OF 

appropriate  historical  sketch  of  the  College.  This  sketch 
and  memorial  were  prepared  by  my  father,  and  presented 
to  the  General  Court,  and  by  them  utterly  disregarded.  But 
in  1814,  the  repealing  act  of  1812  was  itself  repealed,  thus 
reviving  the  act  of  1810  ;  but  with  the  proviso,  that  the  Sen- 
ate should  be  added  to  the  thirty  elective  members  provided 
by  that  act.  So  the  Board  remained,  substantially,  until 
the  recent  change.  This  act  of  1814,  it  should  be  noticed, 
contained  a  provision  making  its  validity  dependent  on  the 
acceptance  of  the  Corporation  and  Overseers. 

The  Memorial  bears  no  individual  name,  hut  purports  to 
be  presented  by  the  President  and  Fellows  of  the  College, 
in  behalf  of  themselves  and  of  the  Overseers.  I  reprint  it 
in  the  Appendix,  not  only  because  it  seems  to  have  been 
drawn  by  my  father  with  great  care,  but  because  it  presents, 
as  I  think,  just  views  in  relation  to  its  extremely  important 
subject. 

In  1805,  my  father  was  active,  with  others,  in  founding 
the  Professorship  of  Natural  History.  One  hundred  and 
fifty  persons  subscribed  something  more  than  thirty  thousand 
dollars,  of  which  my  father,  and  his  brothers  and  nephew, 
(whom,  I  suppose,  he  induced  to  subscribe,)  contributed 
eleven  hundred.  William  Dandridge  Peck  was  the  first 
Professor. 

Peck  was  one  of  the  peculiar  men  of  that  day.  Born  in 
Boston  in  17G3,  and  graduating  at  Harvard  College  in 
1782,  he  tried  to  become  a  merchant  in  Boston  ;  but  finding 
that  he  could  not  suppress  his  natural  tastes  and  tendencies, 
he  retired  to  a  small  farm  in  Kittery,  Maine  (which  he  had 
inherited  from  his  father),  and  there  lived  for  twenty  years  ; 
and,  with  very  limited  resources  either  in  books  or  in 
money,  he  became,  and  made  himself  recogni/ed  by  the 
scientific  world  as,  a  most  learned  botanist  and  entomolo- 
gist, lie  came  to  Boston  occasionally,  and  was  upon  terms 
of  intimate  friendship  with  my  father,  who  always  sought 
eagerly  the  society  of  men  who  were  eminent  for  any  kind 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  293 

of  learning.  Peck  was  indisposed,  at  first,  to  accept  the  pro- 
fessorship, and  was  induced  to  do  so,  as  I  have  been  told, 
mainly  by  the  urgent  advice  and  request  of  my  father ;  but 
of  this  I  have  no  evidence. 

My  father  became  a,  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences  in  1781.  I  do  not  know  that  he  was 
ever  an  active  member,  and  I  should  suppose  not,  from  his 
preference  for  solitary  study  and  labor.  In  the  first  volume 
of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  are  two  papers,  and  only 
two,  which  do  not  bear  the  name  of  their  author.  They 
are  both  on  mathematical  subjects  ;  and  one  of  them  seems 
to  connect  law  and  insurance  with  mathematics.  From  cer- 
tain turns  of  expression,  and  their  agreement  with  some 
memoranda  of  his  which  I  have,  I  suspect  that  both  of  them 
were  written  by  him ;  but  do  not  know  it.  In  the  second 
volume  of  the  Memoirs,  Part  II.  page  12,  is  an  astronomi- 
cal problem,  (with  a  plate,)  occupying  nine  pages,  to  which 
his  name  is  attached.  It  is  the  only  thing,  of  any  descrip- 
tion, which  I  have  ever  found  in  print  under  his  name. 
Among  his  papers  I  find  the  following  letters,  which  seem 
to  be  connected  with  his  membership. 

Ipswich,  August  10th,  1782. 
SIR  : 

The  rare  phenomenon  of  a  conjunction  of  the  planets  Saturn 
and  Jupiter  is  expected  to  take  place  about  the  3d  of  November. 
But  these  large  bodies,  as  you  are  sensible,  act  powerfully  on 
each  other  in  this  situation ;  and  while  the  centripetal  force  of 
the  sun  on  Saturn  is  increased,  it  is  diminished  on  Jupiter,  by 
which  means  they  are  greatly  disturbed  in  their  motions.  The 
precise  time,  therefore,  of  their  conjunction  cannot  be  ascertained 
by  our  best  astronomical  tables.  I  have  been  desired  to  make 
observations  of  their  approach  to  each  other,  in  order  to  deter- 
mine the  true  time  of  their  conjunction,  but  find  myself  unable 
to  make  the  necessary  observations  without  a  sextant.  If  you 
should  not  attend  to  this  matter,  and  have  no  present  occasion 
for  your  sextant,  and  will  be  so  kind  as  to  favor  me  with  the  loan 


294  MEMOIR  OF 

of  it  until  this  phenomenon  has  taken  place,  you  -will  do  me  a 
very  particular  favor.  You  may  depend  on  its  being  very  care- 
fully used  and  safely  returned.  Captain  Wigglesworth  will  wait 
on  you  with  this  letter,  and,  should  you  favor  me  with  the  sex- 
tant, will  convey  it  to  me  by  a  safe  hand. 

I  am,  Sir,  with  sentiments  of  great  esteem, 

Your  very  humble  servant, 

M.  CUTLER. 
TIIKOPHILUS  PARSOXS,  ESQ. 

Ipswich,  February  13th,  1783. 
SIR: 

You  have  been,  I  suppose,  officially  informed  by  Mr.  Gannett 
that  you  were  elected  a  member  of  a  committee  which  the  Amer- 
ican Academy  appointed  at  the  last  meeting.  The  gentlemen 
then  present  who  were  chosen  on  this  committee  supposed  that  it 
would  be  necessary  that  there  should  be  a  meeting  of  all  the 
members  of  this  committee  as  soon  as  possible,  and  proposed  to 
meet  at  Cambridge ;  but,  as  they  were  very  desirous  that  you 
should  be  present,  concluded  not  to  appoint  the  time  until  it 
could  be  known  when  it  would  be  agreeable  to  you  to  attend. 
They  therefore  desired  me  to  write  to  you,  requesting  that  you 
would  appoint  a  time,  and  inform  me  of  it,  and,  if  you  had  oppor- 
tunity, acquaint  Mr.  President  Willard  and  Dr.  Warren  of  Bos- 
ton, that  the  other  members  might  be  notified.  It  was  thought 
probable  you  would  attend  the  court  at  Boston  on  the  18th  in- 
stant, which  might  be  a  convenient  opportunity  for  you  to  meet 
with  the  committee.  If  you  go  to  Boston  next  week,  pray  be  so 
kind  as  to  call  upon  me,  or  otherwise  let  me  hear  from  you  by  a 

line. 

I  am,  Sir,  with  the  greatest  respect, 

Your  most  humble  servant, 

M.  CUTLER. 
THEOPIIILUS  PARSONS,  ESQ. 

Ipswich,  March  10th,  1783. 
SIR: 

I  wrote  to  you,  four  or  five  weeks  ago,  by  the  desire  of  the 
committee  lately  appointed  by  the  American  Academy ;  but  as  I 
have  received  no  answer,  and  vou  have  since  repeatedly  passed 
by,  I  conclude  you  have  not  received  my  letter.  I  suppose  Mr. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  295 

Gannett  lias  officially  informed  you  of  your  being  chosen  on  that 
committee,  and  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  appointed.  But,  as 
it  is  possible  you  may  not  have  received  a  letter  from  him,  I 
would  observe,  that  the  Academy,  at  their  last  meeting,  accepted 
a  report  from  a  former  committee,  arranging  the  business  of  the 
Academy  under  three  general  heads,  viz. :  1st,  Geography,  Math- 
ematics, and  Astronomy ;  2d,  Natural  Philosophy,  Natural  His- 
tory, &c.,  Sec. ;  3d,  Physic ;  —  a  committee  of  three  to  be  appointed 
on  each  head.  The  gentlemen  chosen  were,  on  the  1st,  Presi- 
dent Willard,  Professor  Williams,  and  Mr.  Gannett ;  on  the  2d, 
Theophilus  Parsons,  Esq.,  General  Lincoln,  and  M.  Cutler ;  on 
the  3d,  Doctors  Holyoke,  Warren,  and  Tufts ;  and  that  these 
committees  united  shall  be  a  committee  to  examine  the  communi- 
cations on  file,  and,  if  they  find  sufficient  materials,  prepare  for 
publishing  a  volume  as  soon  as  may  be.  The  gentlemen  chosen, 
who  were  present,  supposed  it  highly  necessary  that  there  should 
be  a  meeting  of  the  whole  committee  as  soon  as  possible,  and  that 
they  should  meet  at  Cambridge ;  but  as  they  were  very  desirous 
that  you  should  be  present,  and  it  might  be  uncertain  when  your 
business  would  admit  of  your  attending,  did  not  appoint  a  day, 
but  desired  me  to  write  to  you,  requesting  you  would  fix  on  a 
day  as  soon  as  it  would  be  in  your  power  to  attend,  and  inform 
me,  that  I  might  inform  Mr.  Willard,  who  would  notify  the  other 
gentlemen  that  way.  I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  Dr. 
Holyoke,  informing  me  that  he  heard  you  was  in  Boston,  and 
wrote  to  you  on  the  subject,  but  thinks  you  left  the  town  before 
his  letter  arrived.  He  wishes  to  know  whether  you  have  fixed 
on  a  day,  or  whether  there  is  any  probability  that  you  will  be 
able  soon  to  meet  with  the  committee.  Please  to  favor  me  with 
a  line  as  soon  as  you  can  have  opportunity. 

I  am,  Sir,  your  most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

M.  CUTLER. 
TiiKorniLus  PARSONS,  Esq. 

Upon  the  whole,  my  father's  acquisitions  as  a  scholar  and 
a  man  of  science  were  great,  and  perhaps  remarkable  ;  and 
it  is  easy  to  see,  first,  why  they  gave  to  him  the  very  high 
reputation  he  had  during  life  as  a  man  of  vast  and  univer- 
sal knowledge,  and  next,  that  this  was  exaggerated,  and  to 


296  MEMOIR  OF 

some  extent  erroneous.  That  it  was  so  is  proved  simply  by 
the  fact  that  an  impossible  amount  of  general  knowledge 
was  attributed  to  him  by  many  persons.  Some  of  the  rea- 
sons for  this  exaggeration  are  obvious  enough. 

In  the  first  place,  science  was  not  widely  diffused  at  that 
day.  Even  its  elements  were  known  only  to  a  few  persons. 
They  formed  no  part  of  common  education,  and  seldom  en- 
tered into  common  conversation.  Then,  books  and  instru- 
ments were  comparatively  rare  and  costly,  and  often  it  was 
difficult  to  procure  them  at  any  price.  There  were  few 
public  libraries  or  associations  for  literary  or  scientific  pur- 
poses. This  arose  from  the  very  small  number  of  those  who 
were  interested  in  such  pursuits  ;  and  it  tended  to  keep  this 
number  small.  There  are  in  Boston  and  Cambridge,  prob- 
ably, fifty  men  now  for  every  one  to  whom  my  father  could 
have  any  resort,  or  with  whom  he  could  have  sympathy  or 
companionship  in  any  of  these  studies.  "  Oinnc  ignotum  pro 
magnifico  "  is  an  old  and  a  true  saying ;  and  in  my  father's 
days,  almost  all  the  science  known  to  him  was  unknown  gen- 
erally, and  even  to  his  friends  and  associates.  Hence  they 
made  of  him  a  "  magnifico  "  of  the  first  class,  although  one 
who  had  all  his  knowledge  now  would  probably  be  regarded 
only  as  a  well  and  widely  instructed  man.  It  may  be  said, 
that  the  very  fact  of  his  overcoming  all  hinderances,  and 
learning  so  much  of  that  of  which  so  few  around  him 
learned  anything,  proves  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  an  intel- 
lectual capacity,  and  a  force  of  character,  which  would  have 
profited  now  by  the  immensely  increased  means  of  studv, 
and  Avould  have  given  him  the  same  proportional  promi- 
nence. 

I  have  certainly  no  disposition  to  deny  that  his  extent  of 
information  was  the  proof  and  the  effect  of  great  abilitv  and 
industry,  exerted  in  directions  which  would  now  have  led  to 
much  more  knowledge.  ]Jut  there  is  something  more  than 
this  to  be  said.  In  his  day,  t  lie  re  were,  perhaps,  those  who 
surpassed  him  in  every  specific  thing  which  he  had  made  a 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  297 

subject  of  study,  excepting  his  professional  topics.  But  he 
was  probably  rather  near  the  head  in  most  of  them.  Now, 
however,  there  is  so  much  more  that  may  be  learned  in 
every  department  of  human  knowledge,  that  universal 
knowledge  implies  of  necessity  universal  superficialness.  I 
mean,  that  every  science,  and  every  subject  of  inquiry,  is 
now  pushed  so  far,  that  he  who  would  advance  the  boun- 
daries of  human  knowledge  by  starting  from  the  vantage- 
ground  of  all  that  is  known,  finds  that  this  first  requisite 
demands  half,  or  all,  the  labor  of  a  life.  All  science  is  now 
so  popularized,  that  it  is  easy  to  learn  the  elements  of  all, 
and  most  well-educated  persons  do  learn  them.  But  if  one 
advances  far  beyond  the  mere  elements,  he  must  choose  his 
path ;  for,  by  attempting  to  go  forward  equally  in  all  direc- 
tions, he  would  find  that  in  every  one  of  them  he  fell  far 
short  of  knowing  all  that  could  be  known,  and  all  indeed 
that  every  one  who  would  be  proficient  in  them  must  know. 
I  have  used  the  word  "  superficialness  "  ;  but  this  word  is, 
I  think,  used  in  many  senses,  or  at  least  applied  to  many 
cases.  I  have  used  it  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  not  to 
mean  that  such  a  student  could  not  learn  all,  but  that  he 
must  devote  himself  so  assiduously  to  acquiring  knowledge, 
as  to  leave  himself  no  time  for  digesting  his  knowledge ;  and 
this,  I  think,  was  never  true  of  my  father.  lie  who  has 
learned  all  that  now  is  knowablc  on  some  particular  subject, 
is  still  only  at  its  surface,  and  is  entirely  superficial  in  com- 
parison with  the  successor  who  is  to  come  a  century  hence  ; 
just  as  the  eminent  man  of  a  century  ago  could  only  know, 
of  some  subject  to  which  he  devoted  his  life,  what  now  the 
school-boy  learns.  Superficialness,  then,  should  not  be  used 
in  reference  merely  to  the  quantity  that  is  known.  Its  test 
should  be  the  thoroughness  Avith  which  that  is  known  which 
has  been  made  a  subject  of  study,'  and  the  clearness  with 
which  it  is  understood  and  applied  to  purposes  of  life,  or 
used  as  food  for  wisdom.  He  whose  knowledge  docs  not,  in 
any  point,  go  beyond  the  limits  of  a  good  school-book,  if  he 


298  MEMOIR   OF 

has  an  intelligent  comprehension  of  all  that  is  there,  and  can 
turn  it  to  good  account,  ought  not  to  be  called  superficial, 
while  another  would  merit  the  name  who  had  gone  over  far 
more  ground,  and  could  exhibit  even  a  complete  knowl- 
edge of  names  and  systems,  if  all  his  knowledge  lay  on  the 
surface  of  his  mind. 

It  is  one  thing  to  know  widely,  and  another  thing  to  know 
well.  There  are  those  who,  to  some  extent,  do  both.  But 
most  reading  men  choose  between  a  general  and  imperfect 
knowledge  of  many  things,  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  a 
very  few.  From  fear  of  the  fact,  or  of  the  reproach,  of 
superficialness,  scholars  seem  now  to  be  seeking  perfection, 
rather  than  breadth  of  knowledge ;  and,  to  one  disposed 
to  speculate  upon  the  influence  of  the  habits  and  tenden- 
cies of  the  day  upon  that  future  which  will  soon  be  here, 
the  effect  of  the  present  division  of  mental  labor  might 
be  an  interesting  subject  of  inquiry.  The  fact  itself  ex- 
ists to  a  degree  of  which  most  persons  are  ignorant,  merely 
because  it  has  not  existed  long  enough  to  be  distinctly 
and  generally  recognized.  A  i'ew  years  ago,  Addison  and 
other  literary  men  exercised  their  wit,  and  rather  con- 
temptuously, upon  those  who  were  boyish  enough  to 
gather  butterflies.  It  is  amusing  to  read  in  Pope's  cor- 
respondence, how  he  went  to  gatherers  of  unconsidered 
trifles  for  the  crystals  and  ores  and  colored  stones  with 
which  he  ornamented  his  "  grotto,"  as  he  called  the  passage 
under  the  roadway  which  divided  his  five-acre  lot.  And  he 
was  a  little  ashamed  of  himself  for  gathering  some  of  the 
very  stones  which  great  men  now-a-days  write  chapters 
about.  I>ut  now  a  man  of  world-wide  reputation  is  thought 
to  be  worthily  employed,  and  to  advance  his  position  among 
the  leading  minds  of  the  world,  if  he  selects  some  one  family 
of  insects,  and  devotes  years  to  the  preparation  of  a  mono- 
graph upon  it.  The.  very  word  I  have  just  used  —  of  re- 
cent introduction,  but  already  common  —  illustrates  this  mi- 
nute division  of  labor.  It  has  not  yet  gone  so  far  that  one 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  299 

can  be  esteemed  a  very  great  man  whose  studies  have  been 
limited  to  one  only  of  the  smaller  topics  into  which  every 
science  ramifies  ;  but  things  are  tending  in-  this  direction. 
It  is  rather  the  fashion  for  the  most  eminent  men  to  select 
some  such  topic,  and  prove  the  minuteness,  accuracy,  and 
completeness  of  their  knowledge,  and  the  sagacity  of  their 
conclusions,  in  respect  to  it.  It  may  be  barnacles,  or  tor- 
toises, or  beetles,  or  roses,  or  oxygen,  or  phosphorus,  that 
is  chosen  for  this  exhibition  of  labor  and  genius ;  and 
whatever  it  is,  it  cannot  be  so  small  but  that  all  the  cer- 
tainties which  are  discovered  leave  uncertainties  behind 
them  to  invite  the  industry  of  the  next  monographer.  Even 
in  history  the  same  thing  is  done  ;  few  books,  for  example, 
are  better  worth  reading  than  the  charming  little  volume 
which  Neander  calls  a  Monograph  on  the  Emperor  Julian, 
and  which  is  at  once  the  flower  and  the  fruit  of  long  indus- 
try, profound  learning,  and  patient  thought. 

Science  has  now  advanced  so  far  in  aU  directions,  that,  as 
I  have  said,  every  man  must  select  his  own  walk.  Those 
who  have  gathered  the  greatest  variety  of  knowledge,  not  ' 
only  leave  many  important  topics  untouched,  but  must  be 
deficient  in  respect  to  some  which  they  include  within  their 
grasp.  There  is  not  only  no  such  man  now  as  Leibnitz 
was,  or,  rather,  was  thought  to  be  ;  but  he  who  should  at- 
tempt to  become  such  a  man,  be  his  genius  what  it  might 
if  only  it  remained  human,  would  be  sure  to  be  foremost 
nowhere.  How  far  is  this  to  go  ?  In  England  there  are, 
it  is  said,  (but  I  doubt  it,)  men  Avho,  from  childhood  to  the 
grave,  do  nothing  but  make  the  heads,  of  pins ;  and  they 
acquire  in  this  particular  a  rapidity  and  precision  of  move- 
ment, and  a  power  of  production,  that  are  almost  incredible. 
Are  there  to  be  such  men  in  science  ?  Or,  let  us  ask  as  a 
question  which  others  have  asked,  Are  there  to  be  in  fifty 
years  from  to-day  only  such  men  ? 

There  are,  at  least,  two  answers  to  this.     One  is,  that 
there  must  be  some  such  men,  if  the  various  departments  of 


300  MEMOIR  OF 

knowledge  absolutely  require  for  their  utmost  cultivation 
such  a  division  of  labor.  But  this  utmost  cultivation  may 
not  be  the  highest  cultivation  ;  for  there  may  be  a  class  of 
minds  whose  practice  it  will  be  to  use  the  materials  which 
other  men  have  gathered,  and  by  force  of  study  or  genius, 
or  both  combined,  give  to  the  common  mind  of  humanity 
a  deeper  insight  into  things  already  known,  and  a  clearer 
perception  of  their  relations  and  their  consequences.  And 
thus,  while  some  men  gather  facts,  and  grope  into  the  dark- 
est corners  and  least  crevices  of  nature  for  them,  others  will 
gather  these  facts  into  bundles,  and  yet  others  discover 
higher  principles  of  classification  and  order ;  and  some, 
the  highest  minds,  will  work  with  what  may  be  called  the 
principles  of  principles,  and  so  discover  and  exhibit  the 
living  forms  which  embody  the  Divine  ideas. 

Another  answer  is,  that  in  sonic  distant  century  enough  may 
be  known  of  the  unity  of  truth  and  the  mutual  dependence 
of  all  the  parts  of  the  universe  and  of  all  knowledge  of  these 
parts,  to  prevent  the  isolation  and  apparent  meanness  of  any 
pursuit,  and  enable  him  who  knows  many  things  to  know 
them  all  well.  Some  glimpses  of  this,  too  slight  and  ev- 
anescent to  be  much  regarded,  we  already  have.  It  has 
been  often  remarked,  of  late,  that  as  all  knowledge  appears 
to  converge  towards  any  one  topic  that  is  thoroughly  exam- 
ined, so  any  one  topic,  if  well  understood,  throws  back 
illustration  through  many  of  the  provinces  of  thought.  If 
a  man,  to-day,  picked  up  a  snail,  and  determined  to  learn 
and  teach  all  that  could  be  known  about  this  creeping  thing, 
he  must  begin  with  zoology  at  large,  and  add  to  it  chemis- 
try and  geology,  and  all  that  these  imply,  before  he  could  lay 
a  foundation  for  the  work  lie  intended  to  construct.  But  if 
he  lived  to  complete  that  work,  the  chemist  and  geologist 
would  have  to  thank  him  for  additions  to,  or  useful  illustra- 
tions of,  their  own  sciences. 

Every  one  now  knows  how  the  sciences  lead  and  blend  into 
each  other;  for  each  of  them  refuses  to  live  alone.  So  far 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  301 

as  this  goes,  the  unity  of  truth  is  now  acknowledged.  It  is 
seen,  however,  only  as  an  amorphous  mass,  or  at  i>est  only 
as  a  circular  chain,  which  ends  nowhere,  but  which  is  a 
chain  only  because  the  links  happen  to  hook  into  each  other. 
It  may  be  suspected  that  more  than  this  is  true  ;  that  the 
various  classes  and  forms  and  modes  of  being  have  to  each 
other  such  definite  relations,  such  unity  of  origin  and  pur- 
pose, as  to  imply  some  analogy  or  correspondence  between 
themselves  in  respect  to  form  and  function  and  nature,  and 
in  relation  also  to  that  organized  truth  concerning  these 
things  which  constitutes  their  science.  Let  this  be  seen 
and  understood,  and  all  increase  of  knowledge  will  flash  as 
lightning  from  boundary  to  boundary.  lie  who  labors  and 
advances  anywhere,  will  know  that  others  go  forward  with 
every  step  he  takes,  and  that  all  their  progress  facilitates 
his  own.  I  may  owe  some  apology  to  the  "  common-sense  " 
reader  for  even  portraying  as  a  fancy  picture  an  order  and 
a  unity  of  labor  and  of  knowledge,  in  comparison  with  which 
what  seems  to  be  the  established  and  recognized  method  of 
intellectual  pursuit  and  acquisition  now,  is  what  Chaos  is  to 
Kosmos ;  but  it  is,  I  think,  a  Chaos  over  which  organizing 
Life  has  begun  to  brood. 

One  of  the  new  things  of  this  age,  and,  as  I  cannot  but 
think,  of  this  country,  especially,  is  the  endeavor  to  make 
science  generally  and  easily  attainable ;  and  another  is  the 
employment  of  the  most  consummate  skill  in  preparing 
works  for  the  most  immature  intellects.  At  first,  all  this 
was  attempted  by  inferior  minds.  But  the  strongest  and 
best  taught  intellects  no  longer  deem  it  an  unworthy  occu- 
pation to  prepare  elementary  and  general  works,  and  thus, 
on  the  one  hand,  address  themselves  to  a  vastly  wider  audi- 
ence than  the  few  proficients  compose,  who,  in  former  times, 
lived  and  labored  for  each  other ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
educate  the  growing  mind,  in  the  first  years  of  its  growth, 
into  that  accuracy  of  knowledge,  and  that  precision  of 
thought,  which  will  best  promote  all  future  improvement. 


302  MEMOIR   OF 

Not  only  are  our  best  men  thus  engaged,  but  some  of  their 
greatest  --exertions  are  put  forth  in  the  endeavor  to  make 
clearly  and  easily  intelligible,  profound  and  far-reaching 
principles.  For  example,  my  old  friend  and  classmate, 
Dr.  Thaddeus  William  Harris,  who  has  been  called  by  the 
highest  authority  one  of  the  first  entomologists  of  the  age, 
in  a  work  prepared  by  order  of  the  Legislature  of  this  State, 
"  On  Insects  injurious  to  Vegetation,"  exhibited  vast  learn- 
ing, and  made  a  book  of  the  very  highest  value  to  those 
who  are  only  men  of  science.  But  he  has  also,  as  an  emi- 
nent man  said  to  me  a  short  time  since,  brought,  by  a  com- 
mand of  language  almost  as  remarkable  as  the  extent  of 
his  knowledge,  the  principles  and  results  of  his  science 
within  the  clear  and  easy  apprehension  of  every  farmer 
and  gardener.  So,  too,  one  of  the  first  of  living  botanists 
has  lately  published  a  little  book  for  children  ten  or  twelve 
years  of  age,  entitled,  "  How  Plants  Grow,"  in  which  he  puts 
some  of  the  latest  discoveries  and  most  profound  truths  of 
his  science  within  the  reach  of  these  children.  Nor  did  he 
throw  off  this  little  book  in  an  hour  of  leisure  ;  for  it  bears 
all  the  marks  of  careful  and  skilful  construction  which  char- 
acterize his  larger  works. 

In  all  this  I  see,  or  I  imagine,  the  possibility  that  the 
actual  worth  of  childhood  may  be  at  some  future  day  un- 
derstood and  acknowledged.  The  earliest  years  of  a  man's 
life  color,  if  they  do  not  determine,  his  whole  career  and  his 
eternal  destiny.  And  the  character  and  the  fate  of  a  nation 
depend  upon  the  education  of  its  children.  AVe  are  so  much 
nearer  to  a  recognition  of  this  truth,  both  in  theory  and  in 
practice,  than  any  other  nation  ever  was  or  now  is,  that 
possibly  some  future  generation  may  intrust  the  care  of  its 
children  to  its  best  and  wisest  men  ;  and  its  most  learned 
men  may  think  they  put  on  the  crown  of  their  scholarship 
when  they  give  to  childhood  the  choicest  fruit  of  all  their 
genius  and  all  their  labor. 

I  dwell  on   this,  because  it  is  precisely  what  my  father 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  3Q3 

loved  best.  He  made  no  books,  or  published  none ;  for 
this,  his  invincible  dislike  of  coming  before  the  public  pre- 
vented his  doing.  But  he  would  pursue  a  study  as  far  as 
the  means  and  resources  at  that  time  existing  permitted ; 
and  then  it  was  a  great  enjoyment  to  him  to  teach  others 
what  he  had  learnt  himself.  I  shall  speak  of  this  more  fully 
in  the  next  chapter,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  sometimes  his 
pupils  were  very  young  indeed. 

May  I  not  say,  that  there  can  be  nothing  better  than 
this  for  science  itself.  The  best  proof  that  one  has  learned 
a  thing  is  the  ability ,to  teach  it,  and  there  can  be  no  more 
certain  test  of  the  soundness  and  productive  power  of  a 
principle  than  its  capability  of  coming  down  to  the  appre- 
hension of  all  men  as  a  simple  and  certain  truth.  Upon  the 
common  mind  this  new  effort  is  the  beginning  of  a  work  of 
intellectual  regeneration ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  hope  that 
the  process  by  which  discovered  truth  becomes  the  property 
of  the  many,  and  not  the  few,  will  be  greatly  accelerated. 
This  process  has  always  been  going  on,  nor  could  mankind 
advance  if  it  were  checked.  The  civilized  world  is  now  in 
complete  possession  of  some  truths,  —  as  gravitation,  and  the 
revolution  of  the  eai'th,  for  example,  —  which  but  a  few 
generations  ago  were  known  to  but  few,  and  scarcely  known 
to  them.  And  now,  the  learning  of  the  scholar  becomes 
the  common  knowledge  of  the  multitude  far  more  rapidly 
than  ever  before,  and  therefore  the  intellectual  advancement 
of  our  race  is  far  more  rapid. 

In  addition  to  this  preparation  of  elementary  works  in 
special  departments,  a  further  step  is  taken.  By  a  some- 
what striking  coincidence,  the  woman  who  has  won  the 
respect  and  admiration  of  the  age  for  the  extent  of  her 
knowledge  and  the  force  of  her  intellect,  and  the  man  who, 
by  common  consent,  is  regarded  as  the  Nestor  of  science, 
have  endeavored  to  give  to  the  world  a  general  view  of  the 
farthest  discoveries  of  science,  and  of  their  interdependence. 
Mrs.  Somerville,  in  her  admirable  work  on  the  Connection  of 


304  MEMOIR  OF 

the  Physical  Sciences,  and  Humboldt,  in  his  Kosmos,  have 
inaugurated  a  new  department  of  intellectual  labor.  The 
path  is  now  opened,  and  others  will  find  it.  Hereafter  it 
will  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  things  which  every  age 
demands,  that  some  of  the  ablest  and  most  learned  among 
the  devotees  of  knowledge  should  employ  themselves  in  ex- 
tending and  illustrating  that  whole  which  every  educated 
man  may  master.  While  the  division  of  labor  goes  on,  and 
the  specialities  of  science  become  perhaps  more  and  more 
minute,  it  will  be  one  other  effect  of  the  same  division  of 
labor,  that  there  shall  be  those  who  do  not  seek  to  extend 
the  reach  of  discovery  in  any  particular  direction,  but  to 
enlarge  and  open  for  general  cultivation  that  realm,  already 
wide,  of  common  knowledge,  which  all  minds  of  liberal 
culture  may  enter  upon  and  possess.  The  delight  and 
charm  of  knowledge,  and,  yet  more,  of  the  love  and  pur- 
suit of  knowledge,  will  grow,  and  be  a  common  good ; 
and  the  heart  will  be  opened  and  softened,  and  the  tastes 
raised  and  purified,  as  the  mind  becomes  liberalized  by  its 
widening  scope  and  reach,  and  invigorated  by  wise  em- 
ployment. 

If  my  father  had  lived  in  the  present  age,  he  would  not 
have  been  a  "  superficial  man,"  in  the  sense  in  which  that 
term  may  well  be  used  reproachfully.  But  as  between  the 
two  classes  of  minds  of  which  I  have  spoken,  one  of  which 
pursues  some  one  or  two  trains  of  inquiry  to  the  utmost 
possible  distance,  while  the  other  seeks  to  give  illustration 
and  co-ordination  to  as  many  as  possible,  he  would,  I  am 
sure,  have  belonged  to  the  latter.  I  think  so,  not  merely 
because  his  desire  for  knowledge  was  a  universal  one, 
and  led  him,  in  point  of  fact,  into  a  multitude  of  inqui- 
ries, but  because  I  have  some  reason  to  believe  that  he 
saw  already  the  unity  in  diversity  of  all  truth.  That  he 
loved  to  bring  the  various  branches  of  his  knowledge  into 
correlation,  and  that  it  was  a  favorite  pursuit  with  him  to 
make  them  illustrate  und  aid  each  other,  and  that  their 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  395 

connection  was  a  favorite  subject  of  inquiry,  I  think  I  know. 
Many  a  conversation  on  topics  of  this  kind  did  he  have  with 
his  old  friend,  Dr.  Prince,  who,  as  I  fancy,  did  not  quite 
agree  with  him,  and  sometimes  made  that  a  matter  of  pleas- 
ant reproach,  which  I  cannot  but  regard  as  not  only  growing 
directly  out  of  the  constitution  of  my  father's  mind,  but  as 
one  proof  that  this  constitution  was  vigorous  and  healthy. 
When  the  good  Doctor  said  that  "  he  never  seemed  to  want 
to  know  anything  for  its  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of 
something  else,"  if  this  were  meant  by  way  of  rebuke,  I 
should  be  nevertheless  willing  to  accept  it  as  a  trait  of  my 
father's  character. 

My  father  was  a  poor  correspondent ;  and  I  have  been 
able  to  get  but  few  letters  of  his  writing.  My  friend,  Mr. 
George  T.  Davis  of  Greenfield,  has  sent  me  copies  of  two 
or  three  written  to  his  parents,  who  were  among  my  father's 
intimate  and  valued  friends.  Mr.  Wendell  Davis  lived  in 
Sandwich,  and  was  sheriff  of  the  county.  He  was  indolent 
and  unambitious,  loving  his  comfort  rather  better  than  any- 
thing else,  but  very  intelligent.  Mrs.  Caroline  Davis  was 
one  of  the  most  attractive  women  whom  I  remember  to  have 
known.  She  was  not  much  older  than  my  eldest  sister,  and 
was  regarded  by  my  father  almost  as  one  of  his  children. 
The  letter  I  give  below  contains  what  seems  to  me  an  ex- 
cellent criticism  of  "  Tom  Jones,"  a  work  now  banished  from 
our  parlors,  and  almost  from  our  libraries,  for  its  grossness, 
but  unsurpassed  in  English  literature  for  its  artistic  excel- 
lence. 

How  tastes  change  !  —  and  for  the  better.  Walter  Scott 
speaks,  in  a  letter  written  about  forty  years  ago,  of  Mrs. 
Behn's  novels  as  in  his  day  thought  to  be  too  vile  for  any 
one  to  mention,  but  says  that  they  were  the  fashionable 
reading  of  the  preceding  generation,  and  that  good  Queen 
Charlotte,  who  piqued  herself  upon  the  exacte>t  refinement, 
chose  them  for  her  ladies  of  honor  to  read  aloud  to  her  and 
20 


306  MEMOIR  OF 

her  family.  No  one  ever  sees  or  hears  of  Mrs.  Behn  now. 
Scott  does  not  seem  to  think  Fielding  and  Smollett  in  any 
way  objectionable  ;  and,  in  1808,  my  father  makes  a  lady, 
for  whom  he  felt  the  utmost  respect  and  regard,  a  present  of 
"  Tom  Jones,"  which  no  one  Avould  now  think  of  recom- 
mending to  any  such  reader. 

MY  I>F.AR  Mus.  DAVIS  : 

In  our  conversation  at  your  house,  it  was  remarked,  that  there 
were  few  books  in  the  English  language  in  which  private  charac- 
ters and  domestic  manners  are  justly  delineated.  Of  these 
books,  it  was  observed  that  Boswell's  Johnson  and  Fielding's 
Tom  Jones  were  among  the  best.  As  you  have  never  read  the 
latter,  permit  me  to  request  your  acceptance  of  it.  It  stands  in 
the  first  rank,  for  learning,  wit,  and  humor,  and  will,  I  hope, 
amuse  you  in  the  long  evenings  of  the  approaching  winter.  It  is 
a  work  descriptive  of  a  great  variety  of  characters,  and  poor 
human  nature  is  very  justly  portrayed  from  the  life.  Indeed,  the 
fidelity  of  the  picture  has  furnished  an  objection  against  the 
work,  because  the  author  has  introduced  some  vicious  characters, 
and  his  good  characters  are  not  free  from  great  faults.  Objec- 
tions of  this  kind  appear  to  me  to  be  unreasonable.  A  unitbrm 
course  of  exalted  virtue,  or  of  infernal  wickedness,  is  too  un- 
natural to  operate  as  an  example,  either  to  excite  imitation  or 
abhorrence,  as  they  do  not  come  home  to  us  as  natural  or  pos- 
sible. Vice,  when  decked  in  all  the  blandishments  of  pleasure, 
is  also  a  picture  which  no  good  mind  would  choose  to  contem- 
plate or  exhibit  to  others.  But  the  virtues  and  vices  which  are 
incident  to  human  nature  may  be  usefully  described  as  they 
actually  exist ;  for  then  we  may  be  excited  to  imitate  the  for- 
mer by  their  intrinsic  excellence  and  beneficial  effects,  and  to 
shun  the  latter,  from  their  degrading  influence  and  painful  con- 
sequences. 

The  history  of  Tom  Jones  has  but  few  local  allusions,  and  is 
equally  interesting  to  readers  in  all  periods.  The  scene  is  laid 
in  the  year  171.">,  when  a  second  rebellion,  to  dethrone  the  Hano- 
verian family,  was  raging  in  the  heart  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  the 
opposition  by  the.  Tories  to  flic  accession  of  that  family,  in  1714, 
is  observed  in  the  disputes  between  Western  and  his  sister.  Tho 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  3Q7 

Wharf  or  Norway  rat  was  not  known  in  England  till  about  the 
accession,  whence  the  friends  of  the  reigning  family  were  nick- 
named rats  by  the  rustic  Tories.  It  is  not  known  that  the  author 
copied  from  any  real  characters,  if  we  except  his  Allworthy, 
•whose  original  was  Mr.  Allen  of  Bath,  the  friend  of  Pope,  and 
celebrated  by  the  harmonious  numbers  of  that  immortal  poet. 
The  various  characters  introduced  are  all  strongly  discriminated. 
Of  the  three  clergymen,  we  can  never  confound  the  orthodoxy 
of  Thwackum  with  the  loose  principles  of  Square  or  the  tame 
servility  of  Supple.  The  braggart  cowardice  of  Partridge  is 
drawn  with  great  humor,  and  his  censure  of  the  author's  friend 
Garrick  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  elegant  compliments  to  the- 
atrical excellence  that  can  be  found  in  any  language.  The  Epi- 
sode of  the  Gypsies  must  not  be  considered  as  a  work  of  mere 
fancy,  but  as  a  correct  history  of  that  singular  people,  so  far  as  it 
was  known  by  the  nations  among  whom  they  wandered.  And 
the  battle  of  Molly  Scagrim,  in  the  mock-heroic  style,  will  recall 
to  your  recollection  "  Arms  and  the  Man"  sung  by  the  prince  of 
the  Iloman  poets.  But  I  will  not  fatigue  you  with  any  further 
observations.  After  you  have  read  the  work,  if,  in  an  hour  of 
leisure,  you  would  write  me  your  opinion  of  its  merits,  you  would 
very  much  gratify  me.  I  am  not  apprehensive  that  we  shall  dis- 
agree but  on  one  point.  For  I  am  persuaded  that  the  fictitious 
Sophia  of  Fielding  does  not  possess  more  worth  and  excellence 
than  the  real  Caroline  of 

Your  obliged  and  sincere  friend, 

THEOPH.  PARSONS. 
Boston,  November  16,  1808. 


NOTE.  —  To  this  chapter  also  I  annex  an  anecdote  told  me  since  these 
pages  were  electrotyped  ;  for  it  seems  to  me  illustrative  of  the  extent  and 
variety  of  my  father's  studies,  and  of  the  way  in  which  he  gave  himself 
up  to  them.  Mrs.  Robert  Hallowell  Gardiner  distinctly  remembers  his 
coming  to  the  house  of  her  father,  —  his  classmate  and  life-long  friend, 
Judge  Tudor,  —  when  he  was  about  sixty  years  old,  and  there  studying 
Dante  in  the  original  (which  he  did  not  own),  with  an  intensity  of  interest 
that  caught  her  attention  at  the  time,  and  fixed  the  circumstance  indelibly 
in  her  memory.  He  had  some  Italian  books,  but  I  have  not  stated  that  he 
knew  the  language,  not  having  a  clear  recollection  in  respect  to  it. 


308  MEMOIR  OF 


CHAPTER   VII. 

OF  HIM  IN  HIS  PP:RSOXAL,  SOCIAL,  AND  FAMILY  RELA- 
TIONS;  AND  OF  HIS  DEATH. 

LET  me  begin  this  chapter  with  speaking  of  my  father  as 
a  religious  man.  I  am  certain  that  I  have  a  right  to  do 
this.  At  some  time,  since  his  death,  I  think  I  have  heard 
intimations  suggestive  of  a  doubt  on  this  point ;  nor  is  it 
difficult  to  account  for  them.  He  did  not  agree  with 
the  religious  views  which  prevailed  in  his  day ;  and  while 
he  was  as  far  as  any  man  could  be  from  expressing,  or  in- 
deed permitting  the  expression  of,  anything  like  contempt 
or  disrespect  of  what  lie  deemed  religion  or  a  true  attribute 
of  religion,  he  would  sometimes  indulge  himself  in  an  anec- 
dote or  sarcasm,  which  spoke  very  plainly  of  his  disregard 
for  some  tilings  which  others  regarded  as  religious,  and 
which  he  considered  hostile  to  religion. 

Another  reason  was,  his  general  silence  as  to  topics  of 
this  kind.  He  was  usually  free  and  fearless  in  his  talk,  and 
unrestrained  both  in  his  topics  and  his  manner  of  treating 
them,  loving,  indeed,  and  enjoying  conversation  —  when  it 
rcdlly  teas  conversation  —  so  much  that  he  always  practised 
and  invited  the  most  perfect  freedom;  and  it  was  a  little 
remarkable  that  religious  topics  alone  seemed  to  be  almost 
carefully  avoided.  It  is  not  strange  that  this  was  sometimes 
attributed  to  his  want  of  interest  in  such  topics  ;  but  the 
truth  was  the  very  opposite  of  this.  Conversation  was  with 
him  a  thing  of  recreation  and  amusement.  His  studying 
was  done  in  solitude,  with  books  or  pen.  And  he  did  not 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  3Q9 

think  that  anything  which  had  the  character,  or  even  bore  the 
name  or  aspect  of  religion,  was  a  fit  thing  for  amusement. 

There  was,  I  suppose,  yet  another  reason  for  his  silence. 
I  have  good  cause  to  believe,  that,  while  his  religious  feel- 
ings and  convictions  were  strong  and  never  shaken,  his  re- 
ligious opinions  were  somewhat  undefined,  and  perhaps  some- 
what uncertain. 

I  have  said  that  he  was  a  religious  man.  lie  had  many 
books  of  a  religious  cast,  and  read  them;  and  he  was  a 
critical  student  of  the  Bible.  lie  brought  up  his  family  in 
a  somewhat  strict  observance  of  the  ordinances  and  exer- 
cises of  religion.  Sunday  was  observed  as  a  Sabbath,  with, 
I  think,  more  exactness  or  severity  than  in  any  other  fam- 
ily that  I  knew ;  and  any  unnecessary  absence  from  church, 
or  any  levity  of  conduct  while  there,  or  indeed  anywhere 
on  the  Sabbath,  Avas  sure  to  bring  down  immediate  rebuke. 

An  eminent  merchant  in  Boston,  now  long  since  dead, 
told  me  that  he  once  had  a  very  important  question,  in 
which  foreign  correspondents  were  interested  to  a  large 
amount,  and  upon  which  he  needed  immediate  advice ;  and 
he  determined  to  ride  to  Newburyport  and  see  my  father, 
whom  he  always  consulted.  He  rode  there  on  Sunday, 
changing  horses  at  Ipswich  that  he  might  return  at  night, 
as  he  must  act  upon  the  advice  he  received  on  Monday. 
He  found  my  father  in  his  study,  and  began  to  state  his 
case.  "  Stop  there,"  said  my  father ;  "  I  will  not  hear  an- 
other word  to-day."  "  But  I  must  be  back  in  Boston  to- 
night." "  Very  good,  you  can  go,  and  get  the  advice  of 
somebody  else.  I  will  not  attend  to  business  on  Sunday." 
The  merchant  pressed  and  urged  him,  but  to  no  purpose, 
until  my  father  said :  "  Thus  much  I  will  say  to  you,  with- 
out knowing  your  case  or  charging  a  fee.  Do  you  want  to 
know  about  the  law  of  it,  or  the  justice  of  it?"  "About 
the  law  of  it  only ;  for  the  moral  right  and  wrong  are  plain 
enough."  "  Then,"  said  my  father,  "  I  will  answer  you  thus  : 
if  you  will  take  upon  yourself  the  responsibility  of  deciding 


310  MEMOIR   OF 

what  course  is  morally  just  and  right,  I  will  take  the  respon- 
sibility of  holding  that  course  to  be  the  legal  one."  The 
merchant  retired,  acted  upon  this  counsel,  and  found  himself 
in  the  right. 

On  Sunday,  his  own  books  were  put  away,  and  his  table 
cleared ;  and  this  was  always  done  on  Saturday  night ;  and 
although  he  passed  all  his  home  hours  on  Sunday,  as  on 
other  days,  in  reading  and  writing,  the  books  he  chose  were 
not  those  of  his  week  days.  lie  required  and  expected  the 
same  thing  of  his  family.  Not  only  must  the  light  reading 
of  the  week  be  given  up,  but  the  books  themselves  must  be 
put  out  of  sight ;  not  hidden,  but  fairly  put  away.  And  I 
have  no  recollection  of  his  ever  permitting  any  riding  for 
pleasure  on  any  part  of  Sunday,  although  he  always  kept 
horses,  which  were  freely  used  by  the  family  on  other  days. 

The  inference  I  draw  from  all  this  will  seem  to  be  less 
certain  to  others  than  to  myself,  because  others  cannot  know 
as  I  do  his  entire  freedom  from  hypocrisy  or  pretence  of 
any  kind.  He  was  always  regardless  of  opinion ;  and,  as  it 
seemed,  and  still  seems,  to  me,  consulted  nothing  but  his  own 
sense  of  duty,  or  his  own  inclination,  because  it  hardly  oc- 
curred to  him  that  there  was  anything  else  —  anything,  I 
mean,  in  public  opinion,  or  appearance  before  the  public  — 
which  was  wortli  regarding. 

Dr.  Kirkland  used  to  speak  of  an  .answer  my  father  once 
made,  which,  beside  its  evidence  of  his  own  interest  in  re- 
ligious questions,  touches  I  think  upon  the  very  key-note  of 
nine  tenths  of  what  likes  to  be  called  liberality  and  tolera- 
tion. He  was  in  Salem,  and  some  one  was  rallying  him 
about  certain  religious  controversies  which  were  conducted 
with  much  heat,  in  Newburyport,  where  he  then  lived,  and 
in  Avhich  he  had  taken  some  part.  "  Why,"  said  this  gentle- 
man, "do  you  make  such  a  disturbance  about  these  matters? 
Differ,  if  you  like; ;  but  why  quarrel?  AVhy  not  keep  things 
quiet  and  comfortable,  as  we  do  in  Salem  ?  "  "  Because," 
was  the  answer,  "  we  in  Newburyport  look  upon  religion  as 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  3H 

having  a  real  importance.  We  think  it  worth  quarrelling 
about ;  you  don't." 

I  do  not  suppose  that  all  his  sentiments  and  habits  rested 
upon  exact  intellectual  conviction.  They  were,  doubtless, 
in  good  part,  the  effect  of  education,  and  of  established  cus- 
tom. As  he  was  brought  up,  so  he  lived,  and  so  he  desired 
that  his  children  should  live  ;  but  he  desired  this  in  the 
firm  belief  that  it  was  right  and  good. 

Towards  the  close  of  his  life,  he  joined  the  church  of 
which  Dr.  Kirkland  was  pastor.  I  have  often  heard  the 
question  asked,  why  he  had  not  joined  the  church,  or,  to  use 
the  phrase  often  employed,  why  he  had  not  professed  relig- 
ion, before.  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  reason  he 
gave  himself  was  the  true  one.  lie  said  that  his  uncertain 
health  would  always  make  his  attendance  upon  church  ex- 
ercises irregular,  and  possibly  infrequent ;  and  any  appar- 
ent neglect  of  these  exercises  would  be  a  bad  example,  and 
might  exert  an  injurious  influence.  I  anticipate  what  prop- 
erly belongs  to  a  later  part  of  this  chapter  to  say  that  he  suf- 
fered much  from  rheumatism,  especially  of  the  head ;  and 
he  thought  that  any  exposure  to  cold  or  damp  generally 
brought  on  an  attack.  The  churches  in  those  days  were  not 
warmed  and  ventilated  even  as  well  as  they  are  now ;  and 
unless  the  weather  was  so  cold  that  lie  was  sure  no  one 
would  open  a  window  near  him,  or  so  warm  that  he  did  not 
dread  the  air,  he  went  to  church  with  fear,  and  frequently 
found,  or  thought  he  found,  that  he  suffered  from  it. 

Dr.  Kirkland,  as  I  have  understood,  represented  to  him 
forcibly  that  his  refusal  to  join  the  church,  by  the  misinter- 
pretation to  which  it  gave  rise,  was  more  harmful  than  any 
enforced  non-attendance  upon  the  ordinances  could  be.  And 
my  father,  influenced  also  by  my  mother's  wishes  and  rea- 
sons, became  convinced  that  the  step  was  one  which  he 
ought  to  take,  as  a  good  thing  in  itself,  and  that  he  should 
therefore  perform  his  duty  in  relation  to  it  as  well  as  he 
could,  leaving  the  results  entirely  to  Providence.  With 


312  MEMOIR  OF 

these  views,  he  made  a  public  profession  of  religion,  and 
partook  of  the  sacrament  of  the  supper,  some  years  before 
his  death. 

I  would  add,  as  a  circumstance  not  without  interest,  to 
myself  at  least,  and  as  one  to  which  he  sometimes  alluded, 
that,  from  that  time  until  his  death,  his  participation  in  that 
sacrament  was  constant  and  regular,  and  that  the  hinder- 
ances  he  feared  very  seldom  occurred. 

There  is  further  evidence  on  the  subject  of  his  religious 
opinion?.  I  may  refer  to  the  statements  of  Mr.  Thacher,  in 
his  sermon  preached  after  my  father's  death  ;  and  insert  here 
an  extract  published  from  that  sermon,  in  the  second  volume 
of  the  Christian  Disciple  for  1814,  together  with  the  head- 
note,  as  originally  printed. 

OX    THE    RELIGIOUS    CHARACTER    OF    THE    LATE    CHIEF 
JUSTICE    PARSONS. 

[The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  sermon  preached  at  the  Now 
South  Church  in  Boston,  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  Chief 
Justice  Parsons.  The  testimony  of  such  a  man  as  this  to  the 
truth  of  Christianity  ought  to  be  generally  known,  as  it  cannot 
but  command  attention.  It  may  be  necessary  to  premise,  that 
the  former  part  of  the  discourse  had  been  occupied  with  an 
exhibition  of  the  adequacy  and  adaptation  of  the  Gospel,  — 
1.  To  the  speculative  wants  of  man  ;  "2.  To  his  wants  as  an 
active  beinij ;  and  3.  To  his  sorrows  as  a  being  placed  in  a 
state  of  trial  and  suffering.] 

4.  "  The  fourth  point  which  we  proposed  to  consider  was  the 
adequacy  of  the  Christian  religion  to  support  man  in  the  prospect 
of  death.  I  wish  to  illustrate  this  by  an  appeal  to  fact.  I  shall 
bring  before  you  the  example  of  that  great  and  venerable  man 
whose  recent  loss  our  country  is  called  to  lament.  The  character 
of  such  a  man  is  the  property  of  the  public ;  and  though  I  am 
little  conversant  with  the  language  of  pulpit  panegyric,  1  feel  you 
have  a  right  to  have  it  exhibited  to  you.  1  am  not,  however, 
about  to  speak  of  the  qualities  which  constituted  his  intellectual 
greatness;  of  the  astonishing  extent  and  variety  of  his  knowl- 
edge ;  of  his  intuitive  sagacity ;  of  his  all  but  miraculous  mem- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  313 

ory ;  of  the  purity  and  loftiness  of  the  great  maxims  which  gov- 
erned his  life;  of  his  disinterestedness;  of  his  fidelity  to  his 
principles  in  all  the  various  relations  which  he  sustained,  as  a 
man,  a  citizen,  a  counsellor,  a  statesman,  a  judge ;  or  of  those 
kind  and  amiable  affections  which  endeared  him  most  where  a 
man  is  best  known,  —  in  the  bosom  of  his  family  and  the  circle  of 
his  most  intimate  friends.  These  qualities  will  hereafter  be 
spoken  of  by  one  the  most  worthy  to  speak  of  them  as  they  de- 
serve.* I  mean  only  to  speak  of  what  has  fallen  peculiarly 
within  my  own  knowledge,  —  of  his  religious  principles,  and  the 
support  which  they  gave  him  in  the  hour  of  death. 

"  Chief  Justice  Parsons  added  one  more  to  the  long  list  of  the 
greatest  and  most  revered  names  which  live  on  record,  who  have 
esteemed  it  the  privilege  of  their  nature  to  sit  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus,  and  be  numbered  among  his  disciples.  '  I  examined,'  he 
was  accustomed  to  say  to  his  friends,  '  the  proofs  and  weighed 
the  objections  to  Christianity  many  years  ago,  with  the  accuracy 
of  a  lawyer ;  and  the  result  was  so  entire  a  conviction  of  its 
truth,  that  I  have  only  to  regret  that  my  belief  has  not  more 
completely  influenced  my  conduct.'  Now  we  are  to  recollect 
that  this  was  the  testimony  of  a  perfectly  disinterested  witness,  — 
not  of  a  priest,  who  may  be  suspected  of  professional  bias ;  that 
it  was  the  testimony  of  a  lawyer,  all  whose  life  had  been  passed 
in  sifting  evidence,  balancing  arguments,  unravelling  sophistry, 
and  detecting  imposture ;  that  it  was  testimony  not  only  given 
freely  to  his  friends  in  private,  but  declared  voluntarily  and 
openly  to  the  world  by  a  public  profession  in  this  church.  We 
are  to  remark,  too,  that  his  was  a  discriminating  and  rational 
belief.  It  was  not  tinged  with  the  deep  and  melancholy  enthusi- 
asm of  Pascal,  or  darkened  by  the  superstition  of  Johnson.  It 
was  founded  on  a  calm  and  free  examination  of  all  the  parts 
of  the  Christian  system,  as  well  as  the  general  evidence  of  the 
whole.  It  was  the  religion  of  Grotius  and  Newton  and  Locke,  — 
kindred  excellences  !  —  whose  names  take  no  dishonor  from  the 
one  which  I  have  now  presumed  to  associate  with  theirs.  Nor  was 
the  religion  of  Christ  a  subject  to  which  he  was  contented  to  give 
only  a  slight  and  superficial  examination.  lie  delighted  to  bring 


*  A  discourse  was  delivered  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  by 
Rev.  President  Kirkland. 


314  MEMOIR  OF 

all  the  powers  of  his  mighty  mind  to  assist  him  in  sounding  it  to 
its  depths.  He  was  a  proficient  even  in  the  technics  of  theology, 
and  was  a  Biblical  critic  of  that  eminence  that  he  could  always 
interest,  and  often  astonish,  by  the  accuracy  and  originality  of 
his  views,  those  whose  profession  makes  these  studies  the  occupa- 
tion of  their  lives.  His  belief  was  not  merely  a  speculative 
assent  to  the  truth  and  doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  It  produced  in 
him  a  sentiment  of  habitual  and  practical  piety,  which  accompa- 
nied him  to  the  last  moment  of  rational  life.  Its  strength  and  its 
power  to  support  him  Avere  most  seen  when  he  needed  it  most. 
He  possessed  a  temperament  so  peculiarly  and  delicately  organ- 
ized, that  a  slight  shock  was  often  sufficient  to  discompose  it ;  and 
it  might  have  been  feared  that  the  approach  of  dissolution  would 
have  filled  him  with  agitation  and  alarm.  But,  by  the  blessing  of 
God,  his  faith  sustained  him  without  fainting  in  the  hour  of  trial ; 
and  he  was  enabled  to  make  all  his  preparations  for  death  with 
more  calmness  than  he  could  for  several  years  before  summon  for 
the  arrangements  of  an  ordinary  journey.  I  found  him  in  hi.s 
last  hours  uniformly  tranquil  and  collected,  steadfast  in  his  faith 
and  hope,  though  without  any  ostentation  of  triumphant  confi- 
dence,;  not  affecting  indifference  to  a  life  so  dear  to  his  family, 
but  convinced  of  the  better  wisdom,  and  rejoicing  in  the  benig- 
nant providence  of  God;  humbly  trusting,  not  in  a  life  exempt 
from  infirmities  as  constituting  a  claim  on  the  Divine  justice,  but 
in  the  pardoning  mercy  of  God  declared  by  his  Son  to  penitent 
man.  His  constant  prayer,  which  I  believe  he  did  not  fail  in  a 
single  instance  to  desire  me  to  put  up  for  him,  was,  that,  whether 
living  or  dying,  he  might  be  submissive  and  resigned  ;  and,  except 
some  affectionate  recognitions  of  his  family,  the  last  coherent 
words  which  this  good  and  venerable  man  uttered  were  a  request 
to  me  to  repeat  this  petition  for  him. 

"  My  friends,  such  a  scene  as  this  speaks  volumes  on  the  ade- 
quacy of  the  Gospel  to  support  us  in  the,  hour  of  death.  1  will 
not  weaken  its  impression  by  dwelling  on  it.  But  I  have  one 
word  to  say  on  the,  testimony  of  such  a  man  as  this,  at  such  an 
hour,  to  the  truth  of  the  Gospel.  The  belief  of  the  evidences  of 
Christianity,  as  far  as  regards  an  ability  to  answer  all  the  minor 
objections  which  a  perverted  ingenuity  may  easily  bring  to  them, 
must  necessarily,  with  a  gre.it  part  of  mankind,  be  a  business  of 
authority.  I  would  ask,  then,  those  who  have  entertained  doubts 
on  this  subject  to  come  with  me  to  the,  dying  chamber  of  this 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  315 

groat  man.  Consider  that  there  never  was  a  human  being  more 
capable  of  forming  a  correct  opinion  on  such  a  subject  than  he 
who  lies  before  you  ;  that  he  has  given  to  it  the  fullest  and  most 
deliberate  examination  ;  that  he  is  aware  that  he  is  about  to  en- 
ter the  presence  of  a  God  who  must  view  hypocrisy  with  abhor- 
rence ;  and  that  it  is  impossible  that  he  can  have  any  wish  or 
motive  to  deceive  you.  You  would  not  hesitate  to  trust  to  the 
decision  of  his  wisdom  and  integrity,  from  the  bench  of  justice, 
your  lives,  your  fortunes,  your  best  earthly  hopes.  Why  should 
not  your  respect  extend  to  his  judgment,  formed  while  his  facul- 
ties possessed  all  their  vigor,  and  now  pronounced  from  the  bed 
of  death,  on  a  subject  in  which  you  and  he  are  both  equally  and 
eternally  interested  ?  Hear,  then,  this  man  to  whom  all  science 
is  familiar,  this  profound  sage,  this  master  of  human  reason, — 
hear  him  declare,  with  all  the  solemnity  which  the  thought  of 
death  can  impart  to  his  declaration,  '  J  could  as  soon  doubt  of 
the  existence  of  God  himself,  as  of  the  truth  of  the  Christian  rcliy- 
ion.'  These  were  his  words  to  me,  two  days  before  his  death. 
Hear  these  words,  my  friends,  and  then  turn  and  listen  to  the. 
accents  in  which  infidelity  lifts  her  puny  voice,  and  pronounces 
that  to  be  little  which  such  a  mind  as  this  felt  to  be  great ;  and, 
as  you  listen,  weep  for  the  infatuation  with  which  youth  and 
vanity  can  be  blinded !  What  lofty  heights  of  wisdom  and  of 
science  ought  he  to  have  reached,  who  is  entitled  to  look  down 
with  contempt  on  the  faith  and  hope  of  such  a  man  as  this! 
What  weight  of  years,  what  character  for  consistency  and  judg- 
ment, what  habits  of  patient  investigation,  ought  he  to  possess, 
who  ventures  to  pronounce  such  a  man  as  this  ignorant  of  his 
premises  and  mistaken  in  his  conclusions!  What  more  than 
human  sagacity,  what  angelic  knowledge,  ought  he  be  able  to 
command,  who  dares  to  declare  that  to  be  a  delusion  and  absurd- 
ity which  this  sublime  Intelligence  confessed  to  be  '  the  wisdom  of 
God,  and  the  power  of  God  to  salvation ' ! " 

I  will  add  to  this,  another  of  the  letters  to  Mrs.  Davis, 
(given  me  by  her  son,)  of  which,  the  first  paragraph,  sug- 
gests my  father's  view  of  the  evidences  of  Christianity. 
Nor  do  I  withhold  the  second  paragraph,  for  it  will  illus- 
trate that  love  for  children,  which  was  one  of  his  most 
characteristic  qualities. 


316  MEMOIR  OF 

MY  DEAR  MRS.  DAVIS  : 

I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  send  you  Bokhara's  Evidences, 
which  I  mentioned  at  Sandwich.  The  arguments  are  simple,  and 
so  compressed  that  they  remain  on  the  memory ;  and,  being  de- 
duced from  unquestionable  facts,  they  convince  the  understand- 
ing and  furnish  a  reasonable  ground  for  our  Faith.  As  the  in- 
spiration of  the  authors  of  the  sacred  books  is  not  admitted  by 
infidels,  an  argument  resting  for  its  support  on  that  ground 
could  have  no  weight  with  unbelievers.  But  it  is  a  fact  supported 
by  history,  sacred  and  profane,  that  the  Gospels,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  Epistles,  were  written  by  the  persons  whose  names 
they  bear.  From  these  writings  the  characters  of  the  authors  are 
clearly  marked,  and  their  intention  in  writing  cannot  be  mistaken. 
They  must  have  been  honest  men,  writing  with  honest  views,  and 
relating  facts,  the  truth  of  which  they  well  knew.  On  this  plain 
ground,  admitted  by  every  intelligent  man  who  has  examined  the 
subject,  the  little  treatise  which  I  send  you  has  erected  a  solid 
structure,  unassailable  by  the  ridicule  of  scoffers,  the  cavils  of 
sceptics,  or  the  sophistry  of  philosophists. 

Master  Wendell's  commission  I  have  executed  in  a  manner 
which,  I  hope,  will  satisfy  him.  Little  Samuel  is  also  entitled  to 
my  best  wishes.  He  is  young,  innocent,  and  beautiful.  But 
what  are  all  these  blessings,  in  the  opinion  of  a  wise  world,  with- 
out wealth  ?  And  alas !  he  is  not  rich.  May  I  begin  his  little 
store  ?  And  if  you  will  deposit  the  offering  at  the  bottom  of  his 
box,  who  knows  but  it  may  be  the  foundation  of  his  future  for- 
tunes; and,  if  his  other  treasures  should  take  wing,  it  may  remain 
at  bottom,  like  hope  in  the  box  of  Pandora  ?  But,  jesting  apart, 
do  oblige  me  by  being  his  trustee  of  the  enclosed,  as  a  keepsake, 
until  you  can  dispose  of  it  better  for  my  sweet  little  pet.  Indeed 
I  owe  him  much,  for  he  gladdened  many  of  the  hours  I  passed  at 

Sandwidl-  TIIEOPII.  PARSONS. 

I  give  here,  also,  a  letter  to  Mr.  Davis  ;  and  express  my 
regret  that  I  have  been  able  to  procure  so  few  of  those 
which  he  must  have  written  to  different  persons. 

Boston,  February  20,  1807. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

I  received,  last  evening,  your  favor  of  the  17th  instant,  inform- 
ing us  of  Mrs.  Davis's  extreme  illness,  and  of  the  favorable  crisis 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS..  317 

of  her  fever.  While  we  sincerely  sympathize  with  you  on  her 
danger,  we  most  cordially  congratulate  you  on  the  prospect  of  her 
recovery.  When  at  Boston,  I  was  more  apprehensive  about  her 
than  either  you  or  she  herself  appeared  to  be.  I  feared  the 
severity  of  the  weather  in  which  she  travelled,  combined  with 
her  sister's  approaching  fate,  would  very  much  injure  her  health. 
On  leaving  her,  after  giving  her  a  little  airing,  I  felt  a  strong 
presentiment  that  she  would  be  quite  ill :  but  my  fear  of  exciting 
an  unnecessary  alarm  induced  me  not  to  mention  it.  I  think  I 
never  bade  adieu  to  any  friend  with  more  reluctance ;  and  I  have 
been,  ever  since,  anxious  to  hear  from  her.  It  is  with  very  great 
pleasure  that  I  now  learn  that  she  is  out  of  danger ;  and  I  sin- 
cerely wish  that  you  and  your  excellent  lady  may  live,  mutually 
blessing  and  blest,  many,  many  years  after  your  old  friends  are 
gone  and  forgotten. 

I  have  had  a  very  sick  family  since  you  left  Boston.  Mrs. 
Parsons  has  been  confined  to  her  chamber  by  a  pulmonic  fever. 
Eliza,  Lucy,  and  Charlotte  have  been  afflicted  with  the  epidemic 
influenza.  Little  William  has  been  laid  up  with  the  mumps ; 
one  of  the  maids  has  been  severely  attacked  by  the  rheumatism, 
and  the  man  quite  unable  to  keep  about.  Indeed,  the  house  has 
been  a  hospital,  but  not  of  incurables.  I  trust  they  are  all  grow- 
ing convalescent. 

But,  alas !  Death  has  been  walking  among  us.  Mrs.  Phelps, 
on  Tuesday  evening  last,  was  deprived  of  her  little  Edward,  a 
sweet  boy  in  his  fourth  year.  Well  in  the  morning,  he  was 
seized  with  convulsion  fits,  and  in  the  evening  he  was  dead.  The 
violence  of  the  tempest  prostrated  the  bud,  as  it  was  expanding 
into  blossom.  I  have  just  returned  from  the  funeral ;  and  the 
dead  child  is  at  rest,  by  the  side  of  my  Henry. 

If  our  misfortunes  can  be  alleviated  by  a  comparison  with  the 
calamities  of  others,  how  greatly  should  we  commiserate  —  — , 
who  seems  to  have  drained  the  cup  of  sorrow  to  the  dregs.  You 
have  doubtless  seen  announced,  in  the  public  papers,  his  mar- 
riage with  • —  — •,  on  the  evening  of  the  Sunday  before  last,  and 
her  death  on  Tuesday  last.  She  appeared  happy  at  the  approach- 
ing connection  until  a  few  weeks  before  it  was  formed.  She  then 
became  dispirited  and  much  dejected,  and  her  friends  discovered 
in  her  a  mind  not  quite  regular.  He,  on  the  Wednesday  before 
the  marriage,  discovered  it  for  the  first  time,  and  was  greatly  dis- 


318  MEMOIR  OF 

tressed.  lie  had  but  one  of  two  alternatives  in  his  power  ;  either 
to  proceed  to  the  marriage,  trusting  that  in  a  little  time  she  would 
recover  her  usual  soundness  of  mind,  or  to  propose  a  delay  of  the 
union.  The  latter  measure  was  extremely  delicate  from  its  na- 
ture ;  and  he  also  feared  that  it  might  increase  her  derangement. 

*-  O 

The  former  he  concluded  on,  and  they  were  married.  After  they 
were  married,  her  spirits  continued  low,  and  she  appeared  to  be 
much  distressed,  but  no  marks  of  increasing  insanity  were  dis- 
covered. On  the  morning  of  the  last  Tuesday,  he  arose  at  the 
usual  hour.  While  dressing,  she  asked  him  of  what  he  had 
dreamed  in  the  night.  He  said,  "  Of  nothing  " ;  and  he  returned 
her  the  same  question.  She  replied  that  she  had  dreamed  of  his 
wife,  and  that  it  seemed  as  if  she  must  be  with  her.  He  left  her 
in  bed,  and  retired  to  his  study.  After  remaining  there  about  an 
hour,  he  went  down  stairs  to  breakfast,  expecting  to  find  her  be- 
low. Not  seeing  her,  he  went  to  her  chamber,  when  he  discovered 
her  suspended  to  the  bed-post,  by  a  string  she  used  to  confine  her 
hair.  She  had,  while  standing  on  the  bed,  passed  the  string,  with 
a  single  knot,  round  her  neck,  and  securing  the  end  to  the  top  of 
the  post,  she  sank  down,  bearing  her  weight  on  the  string.  She 
was  immediately  taken  down  and  placed  in  bed ;  but  animation 
was  lied,  and  she  was  a  corpse.  Who,  after  this,  will  complain  of 
disappointment  or  disease  ? 

But  enough  in  this  melancholy  strain.  I  took  my  pen  to 
thank  you  for  writing,  and  to  thank  you  for  not  writing  sooner. 
Had  I  heard  of  the  sickness  and  danger  of  Mrs.  Davis,  and 
heard  no  more,  it  would  have  occasioned  an  anxiety  very  pain- 
ful to 

Your  ever  friendly 

TiiF.orn.  PARSONS. 
WENDELL  DAVIS,  ESQ.,  Sandwich. 

While  I  have  sufficient  evidence  for  calling  him  a  relig- 
ious man,  and  a  sincere  believer  in  Christianity,  it  is  of  a 
kind  to  afford  little  help  in  determining  the  exact  form  of 
his  belief,  and  on  this  point  I  am  quite  uncertain. 

My  grandfather  was  an  Arminian,  or,  rather,  had  strong 
tendencies  in  that  direction.  I  suspect,  but  do  not  certainly 
know,  that  my  grandmother  went  still  farther.  Her  position 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  319 

imposed  upon  her  some  restraint ;  and  there  was  indeed 
nothing  that  called  for  any  exhibition  or  public  declaration 
of  her  opinion.  But  many  reasons  convince  me  that  she 
was  decidedly  anti-Calvinistic ;  and  it  was  probably  her 
influence,  which  in  her  own  family  at  least  was  irresistible, 
that  caused  the  somewhat  remarkable  unanimity  of  her 
numerous  children  in  the  same  opinion,  or  the  same  denial. 
All  the  seven  were  known  as  —  to  use  the  phrase  of  fifty 
years  ago  — "  liberal  Christians  "  ;  and  all  ranked  them- 
selves among  the  Unitai'ians  when  that  form  of  belief  Avas 
distinctly  developed,  and  those  who  held  it  were  recognized 
as  a  class. 

But  then,  as  now,  this  class  was  far  from  homogeneous. 
The  word  Unitarian  had,  and  I  suppose  has,  many  senses. 
Indeed  it  seems  to  be  applied  to,  or  adopted  by,  those  who 
stand  on  no  other  common  ground  than  that  they  reject  the 
doctrine  of  a  trinity  of  divine  persons,  and  nevertheless 
desire  to  be  called  Christians.  As  Protestantism  means 
only  a  renunciation  of  Romanism,  so  Unitarianism  appears 
sometimes  to  mean  only  a  rejection  of  the  doctrine  of  three 
divine  persons  in  the  Godhead.  And  therefore  it  appears 
to  embrace  every  kind  of  opinion  ;  from  that  of  persons 
who  worship  Jesus  Christ  and  believe  him  infinitely  super- 
human, and  are  profoundly  penetrated  with  the  need  of  a 
change  of  heart,  and  believe  this  can  come  only  by  the  grace 
and  work  of  God,  —  to  those  who  regard  Jesus  only  as  a 
man,  very  good  and  wise  indeed,  but  liable  to  the  errors  of 
his  age,  and  who  consider  salvation  either  as  a  universal 
fact,  or  as  an  effect  to  be  wrought  out  by  every  man  by  his 
own  unaided  strength. 

Precisely  where  my  father  stood  in  this  wide  field,  I  can- 
not say.  I  hope,  and  I  believe,  much  nearer  the  first  class 
than  the  second  ;  but  the  hope  may  be  the  father  of  the 
belief,  although  I  am  not  without  some  evidence.  About 
fifteen  years  after  his  death,  there  was  a  funeral  at  the  house 
of  my  uncle,  William  Parsons.  I  happened  to  go  there 


320  MEMOIR  OF 

very  early,  and  found  Dr.  Kirkland  alone  in  the  drawing- 
room.  I  was  then  quite  interested  in  theological  inquiries, 
and  our  conversation  turned  upon  subjects  of  this  kind  ;  and 
presently  I  said  to  him :  "  I  have  long  wished  to  know  my 
father's  belief,  and  I  wish  you,  who  were  his  pastor  and 
most  intimate  friend,  would  tell  me  what  it  was."  lie  an- 
swered :  "  I  am  perfectly  ready  to  tell  you  as  well  as  I 
know,  and  that,  I  think,  is  as  well  as  he  knew  himself.  lie 
was  a  Unitarian,  as  I  am.  But  there  are  two  kinds  of  Uni- 
tarians, and  they  differ  much  from  each  other.  There  are 
those  who  are  unable  to  comprehend  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  known  as  Orthodox,  and  are  shocked  by  that  of 
salvation  by  faith  alone,  and  deny  these  doctrines  without 
substituting  for  them  distinct  and  precise  dogmas.  I  am 
one  of  these  ;  I  suppose  your  father  and  Mr.  Buckminster, 
and  my  successor,  Mr.  Thacher,  Avere  others.  There  are, 
however,  Unitarians  who  go  so  much  farther  as  to  have  a 
system  of  faith  about  all  these  things  Avhich  satisfies  them, 
and  they  think  they  are  able  to  understand  the  Avholc.  But 
I  do  not  agree  Avith  them."  I  do  not  give  these  as  the  A'cry 
words  of  Dr.  Kirkland,  but  I  am  certain  that  they  express 
accurately  his  sentiments  and  meaning.  I  do  not  know 
that  I  can  add  to  this.  I  am  only  sure  that  my  father 
entirely  rejected  the  doctrines  of  vicarious  punishment,  of 
arbitrary  election,  and  of  salvation  by  faith  without  Avorks. 
I  have  heard  him  speak  of  '•  atonement "  as  meaning  only 
"  at-one-ment,"  or  reconciliation ;  and  he  believed  that 
this  reconciliation  Avas  necessary,  and  Avas  to  be  effected 
in  some  Avay  by  the  influence,  and  through  the  life  and 
death,  of  Jesus  Christ ;  but  in  Avliat  Avay  lie  supposed  this 
Avork  Avas  to  be  done,  I  do  not  know.  Kven  now  I  think 
I  remember  his  reserve  upon  these  subjects.  I  can  dis- 
tinctly recall  his  rejection,  more  than  once  repeated,  of 
the  doctrines  of  Calvinism  ;  but  he  never  spoke  of  them 
Avith  harshness,  or,  as  it  seems  to  me  now,  Avith  the  freedom 
and  unreserve  with  Avhich  he  presented  his  A'iews  on  every 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  321 

other  topic,  particularly  if  he  wished  to  express  dislike  or 
disapprobation. 

I  do  not  well  remember  any  conversation  on  religious 
topics  between  my  father  and  Mr.  Thacher  or  Dr.  Kirk- 
land,  both  of  whom  were  frequent  visitors.  But  I  remem- 
ber one  or  two  with  the  Rev.  Horace  Holley,  —  then  pas- 
tor of  the  Hollis  Street  Church  in  Boston,  and  afterwards 
President  of  Transylvania  University,  —  who  visited  him 
very  seldom,  and  from  whom  he  seemed  to  differ  very 
much.  Mr.  Holley  had  been  educated  and  settled  in  the 
ministry  in  Connecticut,  as  a  Calvinist,  but  afterwards  be- 
came a  Unitarian,  and  was  somewhat  lax  and  uncertain  in 
his  belief.  My  father  said  to  a  friend,  from  whom  I  had  it : 
"  Mr.  Holley  is  like  a  bird  that  has  escaped  from  a  cage, 
and  is  now  afraid  to  alight  upon  the  branch  of  a  living  tree, 
lest  it  should  prove  another  cage." 

I  remember  more  of  his  conversations  with  Dr.  Prince, 
who  came  much  more  often,  and  with  whom  he  agreed 
much  better  than  with  Mr.  Holley. 

One  evening  they  had  been  conversing  on  some  of  the 
tenets  of  Calvinism,  and  agreed  in  their  disapproval ;  and 
Dr.  Prince  closed  with  saying :  "  Well,  if  I  do  get  to 
heaven,  about  the  first  thing  I  shall  do  will  be  to  ask  St. 
Paul  what  he  meant  by  some  of  his  strange  sayings." 

As  I  write,  a  little  circumstance  occurs  to  me,  not  wholly 
without  its  significance  in  this  connection.  My  father  re- 
quested Mr.  Clap  to  make  prominent  among  our  school 
studies  the  committing  to  memory  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  and  other  select  passages  of  the  New  Testament,  in 
the  original  Greek  ;  and  this  was  most  thoroughly  done. 
Thus  I  grew  up  with  a  familiar  knowledge  of  my  Bible, 
and,  like  all  his  children,  trained  to  the  habitual  observance 
of  the  Sabbath,  and  to  other  religious  usages,  but  wholly 
without  doctrinal  instruction  of  any  kind  whatever. 

Among  my  father's  multifarious  manuscripts,  one  at  least 
was  of  a  religious  character.  He  had  said  to  Mr.  Thacher, 
21 


322  MEMOIR   OF 

that  he  once  studied  into  the  evidence  of  Christianity,  and 
examined  the  authenticity  of  the  Gospels,  with  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining  how  he  should  view  and  state  the  evidence 
as  a  judge.  Mr.  Thacher,  and  some  others  of  his  friends, 
pressed  him  very  strongly  to  put  his  views  of  this  subject 
on  paper,  and  he  did  so  at  considerable  length.  lie  sup- 
posed a  case  presented  to  a  jury,  in  which  their  verdict 
must  he  determined  by  their  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the 
Gospels,  or  the  failure  of  the  evidence  to  produce  this  con- 
viction. Then  he  supposed  that  the  evidence  was  all  in 
and  the  points  argued,  and  that  he  was  presenting  this 
evidence,  with  the  points  raised  by  it,  and  the  arguments 
thereon,  in  a  charge  to  a  jury.  The  manuscript,  which 
filled  some  sheets  of  his  close  writing,  was,  as  I  remember 
it,  quite  complete  ;  but  none  of  the  family  have  seen  it  for 
many  years.  I  believe  it  was  lent  soon  after  my  father's 
death,  and  lost. 

Dr.  Kirkland  was  among  the  nearest  and  dearest  of  my 
father's  friends.  I  well  remember  when  the  question  was 
taken  in  his  religious  Society,  upon  his  application  for  a 
dismissal,  upon  his  appointment  as  President  of  Harvard 
College.  It  was  a  Sunday  afternoon,  and  the  parishioners 
were  requested  to  remain  after  service.  When  the  ques- 
tion was  stated,  my  father  arose,  and  in  a  very  low  tone, 
oppressed  by  emotion  almost  to  indistinctness,  said,  in  sub- 
stance, that,  as  a  member  of  the  Corporation  of  the  College, 
he  had  deemed  it  his  duty  to  join  in  inviting  to  the  Presi- 
dency one  who  was  better  fitted  for  that  oilice  than  any 
other  person  whom  he  knew  ;  and  now,  as  one  of  his 
parishioners,  he  was  ready  to  vote  to  let  him  go  there. 
No  one  could  feel  more  sensibly,  and  no  one  could  have 
more  reason  to  feel,  the  irreparable  loss  which  the  separa- 
tion would  inflict  upon  the  Society.  But  the  same  remark- 
able qualities  which  made  him  invaluable  here  would  find 
in  this  new  ofiice,  not  only  a  wider  scope  for  their  exercise, 
but,  as  he  thought,  a  field  even  better  adapted  to  their  em- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  323 

ployment,  and  one  in  which  he  would  be  continually  sowing 
seeds  that  would  bear  fruit  in  successive  generations  for 
many  ages.  lie  knew  Avhat  the  College  was  asking  from 
the  Society ;  but,  in  view  of  the  many  reasons  for  the 
request,  he  could  not  but  hope  that  the  pain  which  Dr. 
Kirkland  himself  felt  at  the  dissolution  of  his  connection 
with  them,  might  be  lessened  as  far  as  it  could  be  by  their 
unanimous  approbation  of  the  step  which  lie  thought  it  his 
duty  to  take. 

I  believe  the  vote  of  dismissal  was  unanimous,  although 
so  much  regret  Avas  felt,  that  there  had  been  some  expecta- 
tion of  objection,  and  even  opposition. 

Among  those  to  whom  I  have  written  for  such  assistance 
as  they  could  render  me  in  writing  this  Memoir,  is  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Tappan  of  Augusta,  Maine.  In  his 
kind  and  prompt  reply,  he  says :  "  When  my  father  died, 
(who,  being  then  pastor  of  a  church  in  West  Newbury, 
preached  at  the  funeral  of  your  grandfather,  Rev.  Moses 
Parsons  of  Byfield,  and  kept  up  afterwards  an  acquaintance 
with  his  sons,)  he  left  his  family  with  very  little  property, 
and  your  father  obtained  donations  to  the  amount  of  seven 
hundred  dollars  in  our  behalf.  My  oldest  brother  (not  now 
living)  and  myself,  by  his  kind  invitation,  often  visited  him 
and  his  family  at  his  hospitable  mansion  in  Pearl  Street 
[Boston].  Whenever  I  was  in  his  company  he  treated 
me  very  kindly,  and  gave  me  such  advice  as  he  thought 

adapted  to  my  situation  and  circumstances Your 

father  happened  to  be  in  this  place  [Augusta]  in  June, 
1811,  about  the  time  that  I  had  received  a  call  to  settle 
here.  In  an  interview  with  him,  he  advised  me  to  accept 
the  invitation,  and  cautioned  me  somewhat  against  preach- 
ing the  doctrines  of  Calvinism."  In  another  part  of  the 
letter,  Dr.  Tappan  says  :  "  I  have  not  felt  myself  at  liberty 
to  adopt  his  theological  views,  or  to  follow  his  advice  with 
respect  to  the  character  of  my  preaching." 

Dr.  Tappan  also  relates   some  anecdotes  of  my  father. 


324  MEMOIR  OF 

Among  them  is  one  which  I  have  heard  from  others,  and 
it  bears  somewhat  perhaps  upon  the  subject  of  this  chapter. 
It  is  this.  At  a  dinner  party  at  which  Dr.  Tappan  met  my 
father,  some  conversation  arose  about  Hopkinsianism,  which 
was  then  attracting  much  attention,  and  of  which  one  of  the 
prominent  tenets  was  that  of  "  disinterested  love  "  and  "  a 
willingness  to  be  damned  for  the  glory  of  God."  One  and 
another  spoke  of  it  as  unintelligible,  inconceivable,  &c.,  and 
my  father  was  appealed  to  about  it.  "  I  think,"  said  he, 
"  I  can  understand  it.  I  have  been  told  that  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hopkins  was  once  in  the  Avay  of  buying  lottery-tickets ;  but, 
as  he  drew  no  prizes,  he  desisted.  When,  however,  a  lot- 
tery was  authorized  for  the  benefit  of  a  College  in  Avhich  he 
was  interested,  Mr.  Hopkins  bought  quite  largely,  and  said 
to  the  person  who  sold  the  tickets :  "  My  friend,  I  want  you 
to  understand  on  what  ground  I  buy  these  tickets.  I  have 
bought  others,  and  hoped  for  a  prize,  but  drew  nothing. 
Now,  however,  I  do  not  expect  a  prize,  nor  care  about  it, 
nor  desire  it,  nor  think  about  it  in  any  way,  because  I  buy 
the  tickets  without  any  selfish  view,  but  merely  and  exclu- 
sively to  give  the  price  thereof  to  the  College ;  and  noio  I 
think  I  shall  draw  a  prize" 

It  should  be  remembered,  in  justice  to  Mr.  Hopkins,  that 
buying  lottery-tickets  was  then  quite  as  respectable  a  way 
of  gambling  as  dealing  in  stocks  is  now.  When  a  lot- 
tery was  authorized  for  Harvard  College,  my  father  bought 
a  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  tickets,  and  distributed  them 
among  his  children.  Some  of  them  drew  prizes,  which 
were  reinvested  in  tickets  ;  and  in  this  Avay  they  were  not 
all  entirely  gone  for  three  or  four  years.  During  this  time 
the  subject  was  often  talked  about  and  laughed  about,  my 
father  taking  his  share  in  the  jest ;  but  I  never  heard  any 
whisper  of  objection. 

I  have  now  to  speak  of  him  in  his  family  and  his  social 
relations.  I  approach  this  subject  with  hesitation,  —  I 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  325 

might  almost  say  with  reluctance,  —  so  great  is  my  distrust 
of  my  ability  to  do  justice  to  it.  And  yet  it  is  here  that  my 
recollections  are  most  numerous  and  most  distinct ;  for  they 
are  so  interwoven  with  my  whole  nature,  that  they  can  be 
clouded  or  effaced  only  by  that  which  could  suppress  all 
thought  and  memory.  For  this  very  reason,  however,  I 
dare  not  trust  to  them.  Whatever  my  father  was  abroad, 
he  was  infinitely  more  at  home  ;  for  there  was  his  heart 
and  life,  —  there  was  the  clearest  manifestation  and  the  full- 
est development  of  his  character.  To  him  the  whole  world 
seemed  divided  into  that  which  was  his  home  and  that 
which  was  not ;  and  wherever  he  was,  he  desired  to  return 
to  his  home,  and  to  that  fulness  and  expansion  of  life,  and 
that  indulgence  of  established  habits  and  tastes,  which  Avere 
possible  to  him  only  at  home.  Neither  for  health  nor 
for  pleasure  or  recreation  in  any  form,  nor  for  any  cause 
but  duty,  did  he  ever  leave  his  home  ;  nor  did  he  remain 
away  a  day  after  his  return  was  permitted.  And  while  he 
was  at  home  it  seemed  as  if  he  pervaded  and  filled  every 
part  of  it  with  a  living  and  universal  presence.  "Well  do  I 
remember  —  and  on  this  point  I  cannot  be  mistaken  —  the 
general  sadness  of  the  whole  household,  when  the  hour  came 
for  him  to  leave  us  ;  it  was  as  if  night  had  come ;  and  when 
he  returned,  sunshine  returned  with  him. 

Even  as  I  write  these  words,  the  beautiful  definition  of 
home  in  the  Roman  Civil  Law  recurs  to  me ;  and  if  that 
were  ever  the  description  of  any  man's  home,  it  was  of  my 
father's.  "  In  codem  loco  singulos  habere  domicilium,  non 
ambigitur,  ubi  quis  larem  rerumque  ac  fortunarum  summam 
constituit ;  unde  rursus  non  sit  discessurus,  si  nihil  avocet ; 
unde  cum  profectus  est,  peregrinari  videtur ;  quod  si  rediit 
peregrinari  jam  destitit."  "  Men  have  their  home  where 
each  one  has  placed  his  hearth  and  the  sum  of  his  posses- 
sions and  his  fortunes ;  whence  he  goeth  not  unless  called 
away  ;  and  if  he  depai'ts  seems  to  be  a  wanderer  ;  and  only 
when  he  returns  ceases  to  wander." 


326  MEMOIR   OF 

All  this,  and  the  details  which  make  up  this  whole,  I  well 
remember.  And  there  is  nothing  left  for  me  but  to  treat  of 
this  topic  as  honestly  as  I  can,  leaving  it  to  my  readers  to 
make  what  allowance  they  will,  for  my  perhaps  inevitable 
partialities  on  the  one  hand,  or,  on  the  other,  for  my  more 
than  sufficient  endeavor  to  guard  against  their  influence. 

To  begin  with  my  father's  personal  appearance.  He  was 
rather  tall,  and  in  early  life  quite  six  feet  high,  and  thin. 
About  the  age  of  fifty  he  grew  more  stout ;  and  was  not  so 
much  a  fat  man  as  one  who  gave  an  impression  of  full  mus- 
cular development  and  strength,  which  I  believe  he  pos- 
sessed. His  complexion  was  light ;  although  his  hair  was 
quite  dark,  his  eyes  were  of  a  light  gray  with  a  tinge  of 
hazel.  He  became  bald  very  early,  and  wore  a  wig  of  hair 
as  dark  as  his  own  had  been,  until  his  death ;  and  this  wig 
was  seldom  nicely  combed,  but  was  usually  in  the  disorder 
indicated  by  the  portrait. 

There  was  one  peculiarity  about  his  eyes  which  may  seem 
to  be  common  enough,  but,  though  I  have  looked  for  it,  I 
never  noticed  it  in  any  other  person  but  Chief  Justice  Mar- 
shall. It  was  the  faculty,  and  perhaps  the  habit,  of  fastening 
them  upon  any  person  who  addressed  him,  and  looking,  with- 
out winking,  for  a  very  long  time.  It  is  strange,  that,  while 
we  never  notice  that  a  person  winks  when  looking  at  us,  un- 
less he  does  this  with  a  nervous  and  disagreeable  frequency, 
or  with  especial  significance,  or  in  some  way  to  indicate  dis- 
order of  the  eye,  when  one  looks  without  u'inkiny,  it  is  ob- 
served at  once.  Many  persons  have  spoken  to  me  of  this 
habit  of  my  father's  ;  and  some  in  a  way  which  reminds  me 
of  the  remark  of  ]\lr.  Lowndcs  of  South  Carolina,  when,  in 
Washington,  I  spoke  to  him  of  the  similar  habit  of  Mar- 
shall. ''  Yes,"  said  he,  ';  the  good  old  judge  finds  it  of 
great  utility.  When  a  lawyer  is  talking  against  time,  or 
annoying  the  court  with  a  repetition  of  platitudes,  that  cold, 
wide-open,  never-winking  gray  eye  fastens  upon  him,  and 
I  have  seen  men  almost  writhe  under  it,  and  at  la<t  yield  to 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  327 

it,  though  most  reluctantly,  and  close  their  argument,  or 
what  was  meant  for  argument."  Coleridge  makes  his  An- 
cient Mariner,  when  he  keeps  from  the  wedding  the  unfor- 
tunate guest  he  has  seized,  "  hold  him  with  his  glittering 
eye."  But  as  it  seems  to  me,  a  glittering  eye  is  not  a 
powerful  eye.  At  all  events,  there  was  no  glitter  about  my 
father's.  I  have  heard  people  say  it  was  very  bright ;  but 
it  almost  gave  me  the  idea  of  a  pale  eye,  and  while  it  had  a 
curious  power  from  the  fixedness  of  its  look,  it  was  never, 
as  I  remember  it,  bright,  unless  in  moments  of  excitement ; 
but  it  was  an  eye  of  which  the  earnest  look  was  hard  to 
bear. 

His  step  was  remarkably  firm,  and  very  slow.  I  have 
heard  him  remark,  —  and  verified  it  by  observation  after- 
ward,—  that  the  soles  of  his  shoes  were  worn  out  with 
perfect  evenness.  "  Right  and  left "  shoes  were  then  un- 
known, or  at  least  not  introduced  here ;  and  it  was  a  rule 
with  careful  persons  to  change  their  shoes  every  day  to 
secure  their  even  Avearing ;  but  my  father  never  had  occa- 
sion to  observe  it.  I  may  as  well  finish  this  account  of  his 
appearance  by  saying  that,  when  he  walked,  his  feet  were 
always  parallel,  and  that  he  was  perfectly  upright.  He 
looked  steadily  before  him ;  noticing,  generally  at  least, 
neither  persons  nor  things,  but  giving  one  the  impression 
that  he  was  engrossed  by  the  consideration  of  some  subject. 
Persons  who  knew  him  only  by  sight  have  spoken  to  me  of 
the  exceeding  gravity,  and  almost  solemnity,  of  his  appear- 
ance, with  that  firm,  slow  step  and  fixed  look.  I  think  that 
he  must  have  seemed  to  one  who  met  him  perfectly  incapa- 
ble of  laughter,  and  wholly  unacquainted  with  fun.  If  he 
did  give  this  impression,  it  was  an  erroneous  one. 

His  slow  step  Avas  the  more  remarkable,  because  he  was 
not  only  a  strong  and  well-built  man,  but  of  an  exceedingly 
nervous  temperament.  I  have  thought  that  it  Avas  the  effect 
of  a  deliberate  purpose  to  prevent  his  nervous  impulsiveness 
from  getting  the  mastery.  Perhaps  I  haAre  no  reason  for 


328  MEMOIR   OF 

this  opinion ;  and  certainly  the  habit,  whatever  its  origin, 
was  firmly  fixed.  When  I  was  about  ten  years  old,  a  num- 
ber of  boys  were  playing  in  the  garden  of  Colonel  T.  II. 
Perkins,  in  Pearl  Street,  which  was  separated  from  our 
own  by  but  one  estate,  and  my  younger  brother  pulled  over 
and  upon  him  a  marble  statue,  which  stood  on  a  pedestal  in 
the  centre  of  the  garden.  We  could  not  lift  it  off,  and  my 
brother  Avas  insensible,  and  I  thought  dead.  I  rushed  home, 
over  the  fences,  and  proclaimed  the  fact  to  my  father,  who 
said  nothing,  but  took  his  hat  and  stick  and  walked  to 
Colonel  Perkins's  garden,  just  as  deliberately  as  I  had  ever 
seen  him  walk.  I  shall  never  forget  my  amazement  at  what 
seemed  to  be  his  indifference  in  such  an  appalling  moment. 
My  father  reached  my  brother  long  after  I  did,  —  at  least  it 
seemed  very  long  to  me,  —  but  lifted  the  statue  off  at  once, 
and  bore  my  brother  home  in  his  arms.  The  boy  soon  re- 
vived, and  was  found  to  be  badly  bruised,  but  not  seriously 
injured,  and  escaped  with  a  few  days'  confinement  to  his  bed. 
But  during  the  whole  scene,  including  the  measures  taken 
to  revive  him  from  insensibility,  and  the  examination  by 
Dr.  Hand,  who  was  for  a  long  time  uncertain  as  to  the 
extent  of  the  injury,  my  father  spoke  and  moved,  and 
appeared  to  think,  with  his  usual  calmness  and  deliberation. 
lie  was  inattentive  to  his  dress,  to  the  last  degree,  and 
scarcely  seemed  to  know  what  he  had  on,  or  how  it  was  put 
on  ;  and  was  as  much  under  the  constant  supervision  of  my 
mother  as  one  of  her  younger  children.  She  often  went 
with  him  on  his  circuits,  and  gave  as  one  of  her  reasons, 
that,  if  she  did  not,  he  would  not  be  dressed  fit  to  be  seen  ; 
and  when  he  went  without  her,  her  anxiety  on  the  subject 
was  often  expressed  in  an  amusing  way.  There  were  droll 
stories  told  about  him  in  this  respect.  One  was,  that  upon 
his  return,  after  the  absence  of  a  week,  my  mother  found 
in  his  trunk  none  of  the  seven  shirts  she  had  provided, 
charging  him  to  use  one  a  day.  Upon  inquiry,  however, 
she  found  that  he  had  brought  them  all  back,  having  come 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  329 

home  wearing  the  seven  shirts  upon  him.  I  have  seen  this 
story  repeatedly  in  print ;  and  there  is  this  foundation  for 
it.  My  mother  did  not  find  the  shirts  where  she  expected 
to,  and  upon  asking  him  where  they  were,  he  said :  "  I  only 
know  I  have  put  a  clean  one  on  every  day,  as  you  ordered. 
Perhaps  I  have  them  all  on  now."  The  shirts,  however, 
were  in  his  trunk,  although  not  put  where  they  should  be  ; 
and  my  mother  was  not  alarmed  at  his  answer,  for  she 
knew  that  his  care  of  his  health  —  which  he  never  forgot  — 
would  make  him  exchange  his  day  linen,  every  evening,  for 
the  long,  loose,  and  warm  garment  he  slept  in.  But  the 
story  got  round  as  a  good  family  joke,  and  so  was  per- 
petuated. 

Chief  Justice  Parker,  in  his  Charge  to  the  grand  jury, 
to  which  I  have  so  often  alluded,  says  :  "  Should  any  one 
ask,  Had  this  great  man  no  faults,  no  foibles  ?  I  answer,  He 
had,  for  he  was  a  man  ;  but  none  which  ought  to  enter  into 
a  candid  estimation  of  his  character.  I  leave  them  to  those 
who  are  hardy  enough  to  violate  the  sanctity  of  the  tomb, 
for  the  purpose  of  magnifying  and  exposing  them." 

lie  alludes  here  to  my  father's  habitual  and  extreme 
hypochondria,  which  often  displayed  itself  as  a  strange 
and  very  troublesome  weakness  of  mind  or  of  body,  or  of 
both.  As  far  as  I  know,  from  reading  or  observation,  hypo- 
chondria is  of  three  distinct  kinds  ;  or  rather  this  word  is 
used  to  designate  three  different  states  of  mind.  One  of 
these  is  an  extreme  proneness  to  melancholy  and  depression 
of  spirits,  and  a  disposition  to  take  dark  and  cheerless  views 
of  things.  Another  is  a  tendency  to  believe  the  most  fan- 
tastic follies  about  one's  self;  as  in  the  case  of  the  Knglish 
statesman,  who  Avould  have  periods  when  he  believed  him- 
self a  coffee-pot,  and  would  sit  by  the  hour  with  his  arms 
bent  into  the  position  of  the  handle  and  of  the  spout,  and 
point  to  them  as  proofs  that  he  was  that  utensil.  In  another 
case,  the  man  thought  himself  a  living  plant,  which  required 
to  be  placed  in  the  sun  and  regularly  watered.  Such  at 


330  MEMOIR  OF 

least  are  the  stories  in  the  books  ;  but  I  have  always  read 
them  with  much  doubt  as  to  their  accuracy  or  truth.  Still 
a  third  form  of  hypochondria  is  an  undue  and  excessive 
care  for  health,  or  fear  of  sickness,  and  a  distressing  watch- 
ing for  symptoms,  and  dwelling  upon  and  exaggeration 
of  them. 

From  the  first  two  of  these  forms,  my  father  was  as  free 
as  any  man  ever  was.  So  far  from  being  habitually  gloomy 
or  easily  depressed,  he  was  nearly  always,  when  not  actu- 
ally suffering,  cheerful,  and  ready  to  laugh  and  make  others 
laugh  ;  and  the  little  misfortunes  and  accidents  of  daily  life 
were  cast  aside  by  him  as  one  would  brush  off  flies.  And 
as  to  hypochondriac  vagaries,  he  never  had  anything  tend- 
ing that  way.  There  was  as  little  of  mere  fantasy  about 
him  as  about  any  one.  Some  stories  were  told  looking  that 
way,  but  when  examined  they  amount  to  nothing.  I  have 
heard,  or  seen,  but  two,  which  seemed  to  indicate  a  diseased 
imagination.  One  was,  that  a  few  years  before  lie  died, 
while  holding  court,  he  had  a  violent  cough,  and  told  a 
friend  that  he  should  soon  die,  because  he  was  every  day 
expectorating  his  lungs  piecemeal,  and  had  already  lost  a 
good  part  of  them.  I  know  nothing  about  this  circumstance. 
But  I  have  already  said  that,  when  a  young  man,  lie  bled 
freely  from  the  lungs,  as  was  supposed,  and  appeared  to  be 
dying  of  consumption,  and  during  his  whole  life  he  was  sub- 
ject to  a  violent  cough  if  he  took  cold.  It  was  not,  there- 
fore,—  at  least  it  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be,  — 1\  marvellous 
folly,  if  he  sometimes  believed  that  he  had  active  tubercles 
in  his  lungs,  which  were  gradually  reducing  the  substance 
of  them  into  a  condition  in  which  they  were  removed  by 
expectoration  ;  for  this  is  the  cast;  in  all  phthisis.  It  was, 
however,  entirely  a  mistake.  lie  had  no  consumption  in 
his  last  years,  and  I  do  not  believe  he  ever  had  any. 

Another  thing  which  I  have  heard  insisted  upon  is,  that, 
having  once  cut  his  thigh  slightly,  he  asserted  that  ho  had 
opened  the  femoral  artery,  and  kept  his  bed  for  a  fortnight. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PAESONS.  331 

About  this  I  do  happen  to  know  something.  He  was  whit- 
tling a  stick  for  one  of  his  children,  by  drawing  it  under  a 
knife  held  firmly  on  his  thigh,  and,  by  some  slipping  of  the 
knife  or  the  stick,  he  cut  quite  a  gash  in  the  flesh.  A  com- 
mon plaster  was  put  on,  but  for  some  reason  the  wound  did 
not  heal  kindly.  It  suppurated  deeply  and  extensively,  and 
he  was  afraid  that  it  would  reach  the  artery  which  was  just 
below  it.  His  physician,  Dr.  Sawyer  of  Newburyport, 
shared,  if  he  did  not  suggest,  this  fear,  or  at  least  direct- 
ed him  to  abstain  from  all  motion  of  the  leg.  Here,  too, 
his  fear  may  have  been,  and  I  dare  say  was,  excessive ;  but 
it  certainly  Avas  not  insane. 

When,  however,  we  come  to  the  third  form  of  hypochon- 
dria, it  must  be  admitted  that  he  was  a  hypochondriac,  and 
suffered  himself,  and  caused  suffering  to  others,  by  this  dis- 
ease. 

In  point  of  fact,  his  health  was  never  very  good  after  it 
was  pi'ostrated  in  his  early  manhood.  He  was  perfectly 
intemperate  in  his  studies  while  a  young  man,  turning  night 
into  day,  and  disregarding  utterly  the  laws  of  health,  so  far 
as  rest  of  mind  and  exercise  of  body  were  required  by  them. 
He  then  broke  down  entirely  for  a  time,  and  was  somewhat 
of  an  invalid  always.  His  standing  complaint  was  indiges- 
tion, —  dyspepsia  we  now  call  it,  —  which  assailed  him  in 
all  its  myriad  forms  ;  and  I  do  not  believe  he  was  entirely 
free  from  its  influence,  during  any  long  interval,  for  many 
years.  It  is  to  this  I  attribute  his  hypochondria. 

It  may  have  been,  in  some  degree,  a  family  trait  or  ten- 
dency ;  not  strong,  perhaps,  but  excited  and  developed  in 
him  by  his  way  of  life.  His  brothers  and  sisters  were  all 
active  persons,  busily  employed,  and  not  with  the  brain 
only ;  and  none  of  them  exhibited  any  disposition  to  ex- 
treme solicitude  about  their  health,  with  one  exception. 
My  Uncle  William,  who  was  an  invalid  from  childhood, 
and  therefore  less  active  than  the  rest,  —  excepting  my 
father,  —  was,  in  one  way,  extremely  hypochondriac.  He 


332  MEMOIR   OF 

never  imagined  himself  ill  when  he  was  not,  nor  exagger- 
ated his  actual  illness,  nor  feared,  unduly,  sickness  or  pain, 
or  death  itself.  But  it  was  the  business  of  his  life  to  take 
care  of  his  health ;  and  he  devoted  himself  to  this  work 
with  a  wonderful  assiduity.  He  rode  just  so  far  each  day, 
when  the  weather  was  fair,  and  at  such  an  hour.  lie  had 
a  great  variety  of  clothing,  which  he  regulated  with  pre- 
cision, by  the  thermometer,  sometimes  changing  his  dress 
many  times  in  a  day ;  and  selected  for  his  over-clothe?, 
when  he  rode  out,  the  very  garments  which  the  mercury  in- 
dicated. He  had  a  weathercock  put  upon  his  stable,  within 
fair  view  from  his  bedroom  and  sitting-room ;  and  that  and 
his  thermometer,  and  all  possible  or  impossible  signs  of  the 
weather,  he  was  watching  constantly,  and  found  in  these 
occupations  a  very  agreeable  Avay  of  employing  all  his  day 
and  all  his  days. 

How  far  my  uncle's  long  life  was  to  be  attributed  to  this 
excessive  care,  I  know  not.  But  lie  was  never  well ;  my 
own  recollections  of  him  extend  over  thirty  years,  and  I  am 
sure  I  never  knew  a  day  when  he  might,  not  have  been  con- 
sidered an  invalid.  But  he  outlived  every  brother  and  sis- 
ter, every  brother's  wife  and  every  sister's  husband,  and  his 
own  wife,  and  died  in  1837,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one.  None 
of  them  lived  to  be  so  old  as  he ;  some,  however,  went  be- 
yond seventy,  and  were  healthy  and  vigorous  to  the  end  ;  but 
none  came  within  sight  of  my  Uncle  William's  eighty  years. 

My  father  manifested  no  tendency  to  this  form  of  hypo- 
chondria until  his  health  gave  way.  But  afterwards  he  was 
seldom  wholly  free  from  it.  His  way  of  life  was  unfavorable, 
because  he  lived,  as  far  as  he  could,  as  others  lived  then; 
and  when  I  recollect  what  the  common  customs  of  that  day 
were,  it  is  a  marvel  to  me  that  men  lived  so  long  as  they  did. 
They  were  stronger  than  we  are,  or  else  dreadfully  reckless. 
I  never  heard  a  cautious  and  habitually  abstinent  diet  sug- 
gested to  anybody.  My  father,  who  would  probably  have 
found  in  it  a  cure  for  most  of  his  ailments,  certainly  never 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  333 

thought  of  such  a  thing.  He  would  live  for  a  day,  a  week, 
or  more,  upon  gruel,  or  broth,  or  hasty-pudding,  as  ordered, 
taking,  perhaps,  active  medicines  all  the  time ;  and  when 
the  symptoms  which  troubled  him  were  thus  removed,  he 
returned  to  his  hearty  food  with  the  better  appetite  and  the 
freer  indulgence.  The  dinner  was  eai-ly,  —  never  later  than 
three,  —  and  a  heavy  meat  supper  was  a  common  meal;  and 
excellent  wine  was  easily  obtained  and  very  freely  used.  I 
do  not  much  wonder  that  my  father,  who  studied  about  half 
of  every  twenty-four  hours,  and  took  no  exercise,  had  his 
headaches  and  other  ailments  frequently,  and  lived  in  con- 
stant fear  of  them.  He  was  very  sensitive  to  cold,  made  so, 
it  was  thought,  by  "  nursing  "  himself  so  carefully,  but  con- 
stitutionally so  as  I  believe  ;  at  all  events  he  suffered  very 
much  from  any  exposure  to  it.  He  was  liable  to  a  trouble- 
some cough,  and  any  damp  or  cold  weather  brought,  on 
rheumatic  attacks,  or  what  passed  for  such. 

I  do  not  think  Chief  Justice  Parker's  expression,  that 
"  he  shrunk  at  an  eastern  breeze,  and  started  at  the  slightest 
pain,"  too  strong.  But  I  do  not  believe  that  he  ever  had 
any  serious  illness  until  his  last.  After  he  was  fifty  years 
old,  he  became  much  troubled  with  palpitations  of  the  heart, 
and  supposed  there  was  ossification,  &c.  But  he  was,  a  few 
years  afterwards,  fortunately  persuaded  to  make  some  slight 
changes  in  his  diet  and  habits,  and  during  his  last  few  years 
these  symptoms  of  heart  disease  quite  disappeared.  He  had 
also  some  renal  troubles  during  his  last  two  or  three  years, 
which  brought  on  nervous  states,  and  were  aggravated  by 
such  states.  When  I  remember  him,  he  slept  as  well  as 
most  persons  who  are  growing  old ;  at  least,  I  never  heard  of 
any  special  complaints  of  this  kind,  or,  if  I  did,  have  for- 
gotten them.  But  I  have  heard  fearful  stories  of  his  suffer- 
ing from  insonmolence  in  earlier  years.  Thus,  while  living 
in  Newburyport,  he  was  retained,  and  paid  very  largely,  for 
defending  some  persons  charged  with  piracy.  The  trial, 
to  accommodate  the  crowd,  took  place  in  a  meeting-house 


334  MEMOIR  OF 

in  Ipswich,  and  the  accused  were  brought  into  court  heavily 
ironed.  The  trial  lasted  some  days ;  there  was  a  verdict  of 
not  guilty ;  but  my  father  returned  home  so  exhausted  and 
so  excited,  that,  as  he  ahvays  himself  supposed,  lie  passed 
fourteen  days  and  nights  wholly  without  sleep.  Dr.  Sawyer, 
his  excellent  physician,  said  he  was  laboring  under  a  low, 
nervous  fever,  and  probably  did  sleep  very  little,  although 
he  could  hardly  have  lain  awake,  as  he  himself  believed. 
It  would  seem  that  I  have  thus  described  a  sick  and  ner- 
vous man,  whose  time  and  thought  must  have  been  so  much 
occupied  with  his  ailments  and  his  fear  of  disease,  that  he 
would  have  neither  strength  nor  opportunity  for  intellectual 
or  professional  labor.  How  can  this  consist  with  the  industry 
and  the  efforts  and  the  success  I  have  elsewhere  described  ? 
I  can  only  answer,  that  both  pictures  are  true ;  as  true,  that 
is,  as  I  am  able  to  paint  them  ;  and  both  rest,  as  I  think,  on 
good  authority  and  plenary  evidence.  Nor  arc  they  so  in- 
consistent as  they  at  first  seem.  lie  had  great  energy  and 
self-control ;  and  whatever  he  wished  to  do,  that  he  would  do. 
Moreover,  these  ailments,  and  this  nervousness  about  his 
health,  were  outside  matters  after  all.  They  were  more  talk 
than  anything  else.  They  seldom  prevented  him  from  taking 
and  enjoying  his  book  or  his  pen,  although  they  sometimes 
plagued  and  harassed  him,  and  others  through  him.  And 
very  seldom  indeed  did  they  prevent  his  going  abroad  where 
any  duty  called.  I  used  to  think,  and  indeed  to  see,  how  a 
part  of  the  notion  of  his  hypochondria  grew  up.  When  any 
public  festivity  Avas  going  on,  —  a  dinner,  or  a  procession, 
or  a  reception,  or  the  like,  —  and  he  was  wanted  officially 
or  otherwise,  he  always  refused,  and  always  on  the  score  of 
health.  He  had  some  trouble,  actual  or  apprehended,  to 
call  upon ;  and  whatever  it  Avas,  it  answered  his  purpose, 
for  go  he  would  not.  lie  hated  "  demonstration  "  ;  never 
would  he  have  said,  with  Persius,  "At  pulchrum  est  digito 
monstrari,  et  dicier,  '  Hie  est.'"  It  was  a  common  say- 
ing, when  it  was  proposed  to  invite  him  :  It  will  be  of 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  335 

no  use,  —  his  head  or  his  heart  or  his  stomach  will  be  in 
the  way,  and  he  won't  come.  I  remember  once  he  was 
strongly  solicited  to  join  in  some  public  procession,  and  the 
committee  brought  his  physician,  Dr.  Rand,  with  them,  and 
it  was  proposed,  that  the  Doctor  should  go  with  him  in  his 
carriage,  and  that  he  should  be  at  liberty  to  turn  aside  and 
slip  out  of  the  ranks  as  soon  as  he  felt  any  symptoms  of  the 
coming  plague.  But  no,  he  would  not  go.  Yet,  be  it  re- 
membered, if  a  court  had  been  in  session,  and  he  were 
needed  on  the  bench,  he  certainly  would  have  gone.  In 
all  of  the  letters  we  have  from  my  mother,  written  while 
on  the  circuits  with  him,  she  speaks  of  his  health,  and 
often  as  if  it  were  feeble  ;  but  never  of  his  failing  to  hold 
his  court. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that,  when  he  brought  out  his 
hypochondria  to  ward  off  intrusion,  he  was  a  hypocrite.  I 
do  not  believe  he  was.  He  certainly  did  not  care  a  straw 
about  being  thought  a  hypochondriac ;  but  then  he  would 
just  as  soon  have  said  no  as  yes  to  any  request  he  had  no 
mind  to  accede  to.  But  I  believe  he  verily  thought  he  was 
sick,  or  should  be  sick,  when  he  said  so.  If,  however,  duty 
had  called  him,  he  would  not  have  thought  so. 

Of  these  letters  from  my  mother,  written  while  on  the  cir- 
cuits with  my  father,  we  have  preserved  some  ten  or  twelve. 
In  all,  she  speaks  of  his  health,  and  in  various  ways ;  but 
never  intimates  that  he  lost  a  day  or  hour  of  work.  In  the 
first  we  have  she  says  :  "  Wednesday  Morning,  10  o'clock. 
I  wrote  you  a  line  yesterday,  just  as  the  mail  was  closing. 
I  hope  you  have  received  it,  to  ease  your  anxious  minds. 
Your  father  had  a  good  night's  sleep,  and  opened  court  at 
nine  this  morning.  —  Three  o'clock.  Your  father  has  just 
left  me,  to  attend  court,  with  half  a  dozen  gentlemen ;  and 
I  think  he  enjoyed  his  dinner  and  a  good  glass  of  wine  as 
well  as  any  of  them.  I  think  his  health  is  much  better  than 
it  was ;  and,  if  he  does  not  have  another  pull-back,  he  will 
soon  recover  his  usual  strength.  —  Thursday  Morning,  8 


336  MEMOIR   OF 

o'clock.  Your  father  has  had  a  very  good  night,  and  eaten 
his  breakfast,  and  gone  to  court."  Few  of  these  letters 
have  the  year  or  the  place  stated  in  which  they  were  writ- 
ten. This  was  from  Worcester. 

In  the  next,  without  any  date,  but  apparently  written  at 
Portland,  she  says  :  "  The  court  is  now  sitting,  and  your 
father  is  well  enough  to  attend,  although  he  was  afraid  lie 
should  not  be,  yesterday.  On  Monday,  he  had  a  very  bad 
pain  in  his  head  and  ear,  something  like  what  he  was  trou- 
bled with  last  winter.  Your  Aunt  Cross  made  him  some 
good  tea ;  and  with  that,  and  the  help  of  a  little  paregoric? 
he  slept  pretty  well.  lie  expects  to  set  off  for  Augusta  on 
Saturday  morning." 

In  another  :  "  Sunday  I^ve.  We  arrived  at  Northampton 
a  little  fatigued;  but  your  father  had  a  good  night's  sleep, 
and  has  been  to  meeting  all  day.  —  Monday  Morning.  Your 
father  is  very  well  this  morning,  and  had  as  good  a  night  as 
the  heat  would  let  him  have." 

In  another  :  "  Your  father  has  been  very  well  ever  since 
\ve  have  been  here,  until  this  morning.  lie  awoke  with  a 
little  of  his  palpitation,  but  has  eaten  a  good  breakfast,  and 
gone  into  court,  and  thinks  he  shall  get  rid  of  it  without  fur- 
ther trouble.  He  has  concluded  not  to  return  home  until 
after  Worcester  court  is  over,  if  he  holds  well." 

If  he  were  understood  to  be  ill,  and  the  children  saw  him 
dieting,  and  were  hushed  that  we  might  not  disturb  him,  let 
Dr.  Prince  come  up  from  Salem,  and  there  was  at  once  a 
cheerful  and  animated  examination  of  some  new  instrument, 
or  a  discussion  of  some  new  fact  or  theory,  and  the  hypo- 
chondria was  scattered  to  the  winds. 

He  had  two  habits  which  I  suppose  affected  his  health 
very  injuriously.  One  of  these  was  the  inordinate  use  of 
tobacco,  lie  loved  it  as  sedentary  and  studious  men  are 
apt  to  love  it.  lie  took  snuff  occasionally,  usually  carry- 
ing a  large  box  with  him.  He  chewed  tobacco  frequently, 
always  having  a  roll  of  what  was  called  (and  may  be 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  337 

so  now)  "ladies'  twist"  in  his  pocket,  and  smoked  cigars 
constantly,  when  he  could;  that  is,  he  did  not  smoke  at 
his  meals,  or  in  bed,  or  in  the  street,  or  in  court,  or  in 
church ;  but  almost  everywhere  else  he  did  smoke,  begin- 
ning before  breakfast,  and  ending  only  when  he  was  going 
to  bed. 

He  was  led  to  give  up  this  practice  about  the  year  1807. 
He  had  always  been  subject  to  occasional  vertigo ;  and  in 
that  year,  while  riding  in  his  carriage  in  the  State  of  Maine, 
upon  a  circuit,  be  became  suddenly  incapable  of  motion,  and 
nearly  insensible.  He  was  not  alone  in  the  carriage.  The 
driver  hastened  to  the  nearest  tavern,  and  a  physician  there 
administered  an  active  emetic,  which  relieved  him  from  an 
undigested  breakfast.  He  recovered  rapidly,  and  held  court 
in  a  day  or  two.  The  attack  was  believed  by  his  physician 
and  himself  to  have  been  caused  only  by  indigestion ;  that 
is,  by  a  sympathy  of  his  brain  with  an  oppressed  stomach  ; 
but  it  led  to  some  change  in  his  habits.  He  gave  up  en- 
tirely the  use  of  tobacco,  and  never  resumed  it,  unless  by 
taking  an  occasional  pinch  of  snuff.  The  way  in  which  he 
renounced  the  luxury  was  characteristic.  He  took  with 
him  in  his  next  circuit  his  usual  supply  of  cigars  (which 
he  always  carried  in  a  tin  box  made  for  the  purpose,  that 
held  five  hundred  of  the  common  size),  chewing-tobacco,  and 
snuff,  and  kept  them  all  at  hand  and  within  reach,  on  the 
ground  "  that  he  would  not  help  good  resolution  by  the  diffi- 
culty of  breaking  it."  He  also  lessened  his  use  of  coffee, 
and  for  the  last  year  of  his  life  gave  up  wine,  and  confined 
himself  to  old  Jamaica  rum,  of  which  he  drank  but  one  tea- 
spoonful  at  a  time,  using  it,  however,  three  or  four  times  a 
day.  If  I  remember  right,  his  limit  Avas,  never  to  use  more 
than  one  wine-glass  full  in  a  day. 

He  even  went  so  far  as  to  try  to  take  exercise,  which  was 

a  pei'fectly  new  thing.     I  have  read  of  German  professors 

who  did  nothing  but  read ;  and  that  they  can  live  and  retain 

their  health  seems  surprising.     It  is  to  be  remarked,  how- 

22 


338  MEMOIR  OF 

ever,  that  they  lecture  constantly,  and  this  is  itself  one  of 
the  best  and  most  salutary  modes  of  exercise.  I  have 
read  somewhere,  but  cannot  remember  where,  that  Cicero 
speaks,  in  one  of  his  letters,  of  curing  himself  of  trouble- 
some and  alarming  weakness,  by  reading  aloud  for  some 
hours  every  day. 

My  father  had  a  good  deal  of  arguing  to  do  when  at  the 
bar,  and  much  travelling  and  some  speaking  when  on  the 
bench  ;  but  he  very  seldom  took  exercise  for  exercise'  sake. 
At  the  beginning  of  each  year  he  bought  a  pair  of  shoes, 
and  they  were  not  wholly  worn  out  when  replaced  by  the 
new  pair  next  year.  Of  boots  he  had  but  one  pair  —  the 
old-fashioned,  high,  red-top  boots  —  for  some  years  ;  and  at 
his  death  they  were  given  away,  almost  unworn.  Except- 
ing an  infrequent  walk  of  some  minutes  in  the  long  entry 
which  ran  through  the  middle  of  our  house,  I  think  he 
almost  never  walked  for  mere  exercise,  until  the  attack  I 
have  spoken  of.  After  that,  lie  sometimes,  though  rarely, 
took  a  walk  about  the  streets,  or  on  the  Common. 

Under  these  changes,  his  health  improved  very  considera- 
bly. The  palpitation  of  the  heart  nearly  disappeared,  ver- 
tigo was  much  lessened,  and  sleep  grew  more  regular.  But 
he  was  still  and  always  hypochondriac,  watching  for  any 
symptoms  of  illness,  dreading  their  approach,  and  magni- 
fying their  importance. 

While  in  Newburyport,  and  afterwards  in  Boston,  his 
office  was  always  in  his  dwelling-house,  which  then  was,  and 
is  now,  very  unusual  in  Boston.  There  he  sat  all  the  day; 
but  his  evenings  were  invariably  spent  in  the  large  common 
sitting-room,  unless  upon  the  rare  occasions  when  the  ab- 
sence of  the  family  would  have  left  him  alone  there.  lie 
had  his  chair  by  the  fireside,  and  a  small  table  near  it,  upon 
which  the  evening's  supply  of  books  was  placed.  There  lie 
sat,  always  reading  (seldom  writing  in  the  evening  or  out  of 
his  office),  but  never  disturbed  by  any  noise  or  frolic  which 
might  be  going  on.  If  anybody,  young  or  old,  appealed 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  339 

to  him,  he  was  always  ready  to  answer;  and  sometimes, 
though  not  very  often,  would  join  in  a  game  or  play,  and 
then  return  to  his  books. 

I  have  absolutely  no  recollection  of  his  ever  going  out  to 
company,  either  at  dinner  or  in  the  evening.  He  did  so,  I 
know,  somewhat,  although  very  little,  at  earlier  periods  of 
his  life ;  but  I  doubt  whether  he  ever  went  into  company, 
out  of  his  own  house,  for  a  dozen  times  in  as  many  years 
before  his  death.  Nor  was  our  family  a  visiting  family.  It 
was  quite  large,  and  AVC  had  very  many  friends  and  relations 
who  always  made  our  house  their  home  when  in  Boston,  and 
some  of  the  neighbors  visited  us  intimately.  It  was  rather 
a  rare  thing  for  us  to  be  quite  alone.  It  was  quite  the 
rule  for  some  amusement  or  other  to  be  going  on  in  the 
evening ;  and  it  seemed  a  great  refreshment  to  my  father  to 
witness,  if  he  did  not  partake  it. 

A  lady,  who  was  a  frequent  and  always  a  welcome  guest, 
told  me  of  a  little  thing  which  may  serve  to  show  how  he 
mingled  with  us.  One  evening  they  had  all  been  trying 
their  hands  at  rebuses,  or  rhymed  riddles,  which  were  then 
the  fashion.  Presently,  there  was  a  laughter  so  uproarious 
at  one  very  bad  one,  that  it  roused  my  father,  who  asked  to 
hear  it.  (i  That  is  dreadful,"  said  he  ;  "  I  could  make  a  bet- 
ter one  about  anything  in  the  room."  '•'  O  do,  do  ! "  was  the 
answer  from  one  and  all ;  and  he  immediately  wrote  down 
these  lines : 

My  first  connects  related  words  ; 
My  second  forms  the  sharpest  swords ; 
My  whole  supports  the  forest's  pride, 
Dispensing  heat  on  every  side. 

Thus  indicating  the  andiron  which  had  caught  his  eye. 

Judge  Story  says  of  my  father,  that  "  he  was  no  poet," 
and  certainly  he  was  not.  But  I  think  the  Judge  implies, 
or  at  least  seems  to  imply,  that  my  father  thought  he  was  a 
poet.  In  this,  however,  Judge  Story  Avas  utterly  mistaken. 


340  MEMOIR  OF 

The  Judge  himself,  it  is  well  known,  thought  at  one  time 
so  well  of  his  own  poetical  talent,  as  to  publish  a  volume 
of  poems.  My  father  never  made  a  mistake  of  that  kind. 
He  rhymed  with  great  facility,  and  often  sent  home  to  his 
younger  children,  while  he  was  away,  letters  written  in  bur- 
lesque rhymes  ;  but  he  never  made  a  line,  or  tried  to,  so  far 
as  I  know  or  believe,  except  in  fun.  He  often  said  of  him- 
self, that  he  had  not  a  particle  of  poetry  about  him,  and  was 
lucky  enough  to  know  it.  Of  the  rhymed  letters  he  used  to 
send  his  children  for  their  amusement,  I  thought  all  were 
lost ;  but  have  just  now  found,  among  the  papers  of  a  rela- 
tive, one,  which  I  insert,  because  I  think  it  illustrates  his 
constant  thought  for  his  children,  and  his  desire  to  amuse 
them.  It  was  written  when  he  was  visiting  Boston  in 
attendance  on  the  courts,  to  a  daughter  aged  seven.  The 
names  are  taken  from  Mrs.  Trimmer's  delightful  story  of 
"  The  Ilobins,"  which  was  first  published  some  sixty  years 
ago,  and,  after  half  a  century  of  forget  fulness,  has  been 
recently  given  again  to  our  children.  When  my  brother 
and  sisters  first  had  the  book,  the  names  of  the  young  Kob- 
ins  were  appropriated  by  them,  and  so  remained  for  some 
years ;  and  my  father  alludes  to  them. 

Boston,  March  2,  1795. 

Dear  Mary,  by  these  lines  you  '11  find 
That  your  papa  has  kept  in  mind, 
The  promise  made  at  Newburyport, 
To  write  you  when  at  Boston  court. 
Since  then  I  have  increased  in  health, 
But  added  little  to  my  wealth. 
Enough  there  still  remained  in  store, 
To  purchase  books,  in  number  four, 
For  Robin,  Flapsy,  Dicksy,  Ilopsy, 
With  stories  filled,  to  turn  them  topsy 
Such  as  poor  Gulliver,  of  old, 
To  make  folks  merry,  often  told,  — 
Of  little  men,  six  inches  high, 
Of  larks  not  bigger  than  a  fly, 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  341 

Of  sheep  much  less  than  common  rats, 
And  horses  not  so  big  as  cats ; 
lie  next  of  monstrous  giants  talked, 
High  as  a  steeple  when  they  walked  ; 
Whose  beasts  and  birds,  and  even  flies, 
Were  all  proportioned  to  that  size. 
An  hundred  curious  stories  more, 
Which  will  delight  you  to  read  o'er, 
These  wondrous  books  in  truth  contain, 
All  sprung  from  his  creative  brain. 
Do  not,  my  dear,  impatient  burn 
To  read  these  books  ;  on  my  return 
I  '11  bring  them  safe,  each  child  to  please, 
While  Pecksy  dances  on  my  knees, 
And  dear  mamma  exults  with  pleasure, 
To  see  around  her  all  her  treasure. 

TIIEOPHILUS  PARSOXS. 

So  much  for  his  fun.  Let  me  connect  with  this  another 
letter,  of  a  more  serious  cast,  written  from  Worcester,  to 
the  same  daughter,  whom  lie  had  left  in  Boston.  She  was 
still  a  young  girl,  but  somewhat  older  than  the  "  Robins." 

MY  DEAR  MARY  : 

I  thank  you  for  your  favor  of  the  1  Oth  instant,  which  we  received 
at  Northampton.  I  rejoice  that  your  tooth  is  extracted,  and  I 
think  it  was  very  right  that  you  submitted  to  the  operation.  You 
will  now  be  quite  well  and  ready  for  a  pleasant  ride  to  Taunton. 
I  was  delighted  to  hear  that  the  family  affairs  were  conducted 
with  cheerfulness  and  good  humor.  Good  humor  is  certainly  a 
virtue  of  a  high  order,  for  it  contributes  very  much  to  soften  the 
asperities  of  life,  and  to  promote  rational  enjoyment.  Temper 
and  passion  were  given  us  for  wise  purposes  ;  but  they  were  made 
to  be  servants  to  reason,  their  lawful  and  sovereign  mistress ;  and 
when  they  rebel  and  usurp  the  authority  of  master,  —  order  and 
happiness  disappear,  and  the  mind  is  a  turbulent  democracy. 
But  under  the  direction  of  reason  we  shall  behave  with  propriety, 
and  then  felicity  will  make  her  abode  with  us. 

The  rest  of  the  letter  is  torn  off. 


342  MEMOIR  OF 

It  may  seem  strange,  that  one  who  loved  society  so  well 
should  never  go  out  to  find  it.  But  he  loved  his  books  still 
more.  And  the  company  he  found  at  home,  especially  at 
his  Saturday  dinners,  was  enough  for  him.  Every  stranger 
of  note  who  visited  Boston  was  bi'ought  to  him  almost  as 
a  matter  of  course.  lie  came  generally  in  the  evening. 
Immediately  afterward,  my  father  called  on  him,  and  in- 
vited him  for  the  next  Saturday's  dinner  ;  or,  if  he  took 
a  fancy  to  him,  for  all  the  Saturdays  he  should  be  in 
Boston. 

Our  house  in  Pearl  Street  was  a  large  one ;  but  the  first 
thing  my  father  did  after  he  bought  it  was  to  extend  the 
dining-room,  so  that  it  accommodated,  conveniently,  thirty 
persons  ;  and  very  often  the  table  was  carried  out  to  its  full 
extent,  and  filled.  One  who  knew  him  long  and  well  writes 
me:  "  lie  was  very  social,  and  would  readily  adapt  his  con- 
versation to  the  professional  knowledge  and  employment  of 
those  he  happened  to  be  in  company  with.  If  any  guest 
was  diffident,  and  could  not  readily  bear  a  part  in  the  con- 
versation, he  would  in  a  very  easy  manner  draw  him  out, 
by  leading  him  to  talk  upon  subjects  Avhich  were  perfectly 
familiar  to  him,  and  where  he  was  at  home.  I  have  heard 
him  say  that  he  was  hardly  ever  in  company  with  any  one 
from  whom  he  could  not  get  some  information  or  remark 
which  would  come  into  use  and  be  of  some  value  at  a  future 
time." 

His  pastors,  Kirkland,  and  afterwards  Thacher,  were 
usually  there.  Of  Kirkland  I  have  already  spoken.  Of 
Samuel  Cooper  Thacher,  his  successor,  I  would  say  a  word, 
although  I  fear  that  he  is  so  much  forgotten  that  only  to  a, 
few  old  persons  will  my  faint  portraiture  call  up  the  re- 
membrance of  him  who  was  once  so  much  beloved.  Mr. 
Thacher  was  not  remarkable  for  talent,  or  for  cultivation ; 
he  held  a  thoroughly  respectable  position  as  a  scholar  and 
as  a  writer,  and  nothing  more.  But  he  was  so  wise,  so 
affectionate  and  gentle  and  courteous,  and  so  deeply  pene- 


CHIEF  JUSTICE   PARSONS.  343 

trated  with  the  consciousness  of  the  high  duties  belonging 
to  his  office,  and  so  earnestly  and  constantly  desirous  to  dis- 
charge them  all,  that  he  stands  in  my  mind  as  more  nearly 
the  perfect  exemplar  of  a  clergyman  than  any  person  I 
have  ever  known.  Fitted  for  the  highest  society  by  his  man- 
ners and  his  tastes,  and  enjoying  it  thoroughly,  he  was  yet 
intimately  conversant  with  all  of  all  classes  within  his  sphere  ; 
and  the  poor  especially  felt  his  devotion  to  them.  In  com- 
pany and  at  table  he  was  always  cheerful,  arid  entered  with 
interest  into  all  that  was  going  on.  Still  he  never  forgot 
that  lue  was  a  clergyman ;  and  never  permitted  any  one  to 
forget  it ;  but  he  was  beloved  all  the  more,  for  he  presented 
this  character  free  from  all  austerity  and  repulsiveness,  and 
full  of  everything  that  could  win  and  hold  affection  and 
respect. 

He  had  a  long  consumption.  His  people  sent  him  many 
voyages ;  one  to  Southern  Africa ;  and  afterwards  to  the 
South  of  France  ;  and  were  anxious  to  do  everything  which 
offered  any  chance  of  preserving  a  life  so  dear  to  them. 
But  he  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-two,  in  a  foreign  land. 
I  well  remember  the  tolling  of  the  bell  of  his  church,  when 
it  announced  the  news  of  his  death ;  and  I  remember  as  well 
how  much  I  was  struck  by  the  signs  of  profound  and  uni- 
versal grief  manifested  by  his  people  at  the  meetings  which 
took  place  in  reference  to  it. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Stevens  Buckminster  was  another  fre- 
quent guest,  and  no  one  was  more  Avelcome.  He  and 
Thacher  were  intimate  and  dear  friends.  Of  nearly  the 
same  age  ;  pursuing  the  same  studies ;  holding  similar  opin- 
ions ;  visiting  Europe  together;  and  devoted,  with  their 
whole  hearts,  to  similar  duties ;  —  they  were  yet  different, 
and  indeed  contrasted  in  much  that  belongs  to  character 
and  to  the  exhibition  of  character. 

The  expression  of  Thacher's  face  was  true  to  his  nature, 
and  therefore  it  was  very  attractive.  But  the  features  of 
Buckminster  were  all  beautiful,  and  the  singular  brilliancy 


344  MEMOIR   OF 

of  his  eyes  was  thought  to  be  connected  with  the  nervous 
excitability  that,  in  its  intensity,  became  the  cause  of  his 
death,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight.  Perhaps  this  was  true 
also  of  his  high  spirits.  That  they  had  their  ebb  and  flow, 
we  know  from  that  part  of  his  Diary  which  has  been  pub- 
lished, and  might  have  known  from  the  laAvs  of  human  life  ; 
but  I  saw  him  often  in  company,  and  there  they  were  unfail- 
ing. Full  of  anecdote  and  illustration,  prompt  with  all  the 
resources  which  his  keen  observation  had  gathered,  abroad 
and  at  home,  and  which  his  imagination  presented  with  the 
inexhaustible  variety  of  a  kaleidoscope,  interested  in  all  top- 
ics and  equal  to  all,  always  ready  and  never  obtrusive,  with- 
out vanity  or  affectation  or  self-thought  in  any  form,  he  stands 
before  my  mind  at  this  moment  as  one  of  the  most  fascinat- 
ing of  companions.  His  cheerfulness,  or  rather  his  playful- 
ness, was  as  unfettered,  as  easy,  and  apparently  as  thought- 
less, as  that  of  a  boy  let  loose  from  school.  But  there  was 
always  the  silent  restraint  of  his  good  taste  and  perfect  re- 
finement, lie  seemed  to  be  sure  that  his  own  instincts  and 
habits  of  thought  would  build  an  invincible  barrier  against 
coarseness  or  extravagance  and  excess  ;  and  he  gave  himself 
up  to  the  feeling  of  the  moment,  relying  upon  this  barrier 
fully  and  safely.  His  brilliant  and  seductive  gayety  never 
pained  and  never  wearied,  but  enveloped  all  others  in  its 
own  sunshine,  and  made  them  glad  with  his  own  gladness  by 
a  gentle  compulsion  to  which  they  willingly  yielded. 

He,  too,  was  most  conscientious,  assiduous,  and  devoted  in 
the  discharge  of  his  clerical  functions.  And  he  was  eminent 
as  a  scholar  and  a  writer.  He  superintended  the  edition  of 
Griesbach,  which  I  have  already  mentioned  ;  and  his  Phi 
Beta  Oration  is  one  of  the  most  charming  compositions  in 
our  literature. 

There  were  others  who  were  frequent  guests  ;  and  my 
father's  connection  with  the  College  brought  to  his  table 
many  gentlemen  from  Cambridge.  A  large  proportion  of 
his  guests  were  generally  young  men. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  345 

As  I  remember  his  Saturday  dinners,  they  do  not  seem 
to  me  characterized  by  the  quiet  which  would  now  pre- 
vail at  such  gatherings.  My  father  loved  to  eat,  and  to 
drink,  and  to  talk,  and,  above  all,  to  laugh ;  and  all  these 
things  lie  loved  to  have  those  about  him  do.  lie  piqued 
himself  upon  his  Sherry  and  Madeira,  • — which  he  gen- 
erally imported,  and  they  were  the  only  wines  he  ever 
bought,  —  and  he  liked  to  see  others  appreciate  what  he 
thought  their  excellence.  The  truth  is,  those  were  days 
of  less  elegance  and  refinement  than  now  prevail ;  but  of 
far  more  hilarity  and  frolic.  It  seems  as  if  men  worked 
harder  then ;  and  when  they  relaxed,  crowded  into  a  brief 
space  all  the  recreation  it  would  hold.  An  eminent  physi- 
cian has  said  to  me,  that  he  thinks  there  Avas  more  acute 
disease  then  than  now ;  but  less  health  now  than  then. 

I  should  state  that  a  large  and  well-lighted  closet  opened 
out  from  his  office,  and  in  this  some  of  his  philosophical 
instruments  were  kept,  and  two  chests  of  carpenter's  tools- 
These  he  used  frequently  and  skilfully,  as  some  things  which 
I  have  now  attest.  He  designed,  and  partly  made,  a  large 
rocking-chair  with  projecting  arms,  across  which  a  board 
lay,  movable,  but  kept  in  its  place  by  suitable  contriv- 
ances. And  here  he  did  nearly  all  his  work.  A  small 
table,  about  three  feet  square,  stood  on  each  side  of  him, 
and  held  the  books,  papers,  or  instruments  he  was  using. 
Seated  in  this  chair,  wearing  his  very  large  and  loose  camlet 
gown,  he  spent  all  the  hours  of  the  day  which  he  was  not 
obliged  to  employ  elsewhere. 

It  was  another  trait  in  his  character,  that  he  was  very 
fond  of  horses  ;  and  always  kept  from  two  to  four,  as  soon 
as  he  could  afford  this  luxury.  He  interested  himself  in 
everything  about  them  ;  and  was  very  watchful  that  they 
should  be  well  treated.  Indeed,  he  had  a  general  love  for 
domestic  animals.  His  cow  was  of  the  best  kind  ;  he  was  as 


346  MEMOIR  OF 

much  interested  as  I  was  in  my  large  rabbit-room ;  and  he 
had  a  great  pigeon-house,  with  divers  contrivances  for  sepa- 
rating the  birds,  and  sundry  other  purposes,  which  the  car- 
penters made  from  his  drawings,  and  some  of  which  he 
made  himself.  He  procured  for  me  a  young  goat  of  the 
Cashmere  breed ;  it  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  animals 
I  ever  saw,  and  a  great  pet,  and  a  dreadful  plague  ;  but  it 
was  long  before  my  father  yielded  to  the  universal  outcry, 
and  gave  it  away. 

My  mention  of  animals  reminds  me  that  the  cry  came 
into  the  office,  one  day,  that  a  monstrous  bird  had  alighted 
on  the  palings  of  the  garden.  So  out  my  father  went,  and 
at  once  recognized  a  young,  but  well-grown  eagle.  He  put 
a  coal  into  the  bowl  of  a  large  pipe,  filled  it  with  tobacco, 
and,  when  it  gave  out  smoke  freely,  slowly  approached  the 
bird,  and  gently  blew  the  smoke  into  its  face.  At  first 
the  eagle  seemed  offended,  and  threatened  with  beak  and 
wing,  but  soon  appeared  to  like  it,  and  then,  in  a  little  time, 
was  stupefied.  My  father  then  directed  our  man-servant  to 
come  up  and  seize  the  bird  round  the  body,  while  he  at  the 
same  moment  caught  at  the  throat  with  one  hand  and  at  the 
legs  with  the  other.  In  this  way  he  was  safely  captured 
and  retained  for  a  day  or  two,  until  reclaimed  by  his  owner, 
from  whom  he  had  escaped. 

There  was  attached  to  his  house  in  Pearl  Street  a  large 
garden  ;  but  I  do  not  remember  that  he  paid  any  more  at- 
tention to  it  than  was  necessary  to  see  that  it  was  properly 
cultivated,  as  we  depended  upon  it  for  most  of  our  vegeta- 
bles. He  had  no  love  for  horticulture  that  I  know  of,  but 
had,  or  thought  he  had,  a  great  taste  for  agriculture.  All  he 
did  about  it  was  to  gather  and  read  agricultural  books  and 
enjoy  a  talk  with  farmers,  —  "gentlemen  farmers"  or  work- 
ing farmers.  But  he  wished  to  do  more. 

About  the  time  he  removed  to  Boston,  he  desired  very 
much  to  buy  a  large  farm,  called  "  the  Johnson  farm,"  in 
Byfield,  which  was  then  for  sale,  and  was  one  of  the  best  in 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  347 

Essex  County,  with  the  purpose  of  living  there  in  summer ; 
but  he  was  deterred  by  the  earnest  opposition  of  his  wife 
and  brothers.  At  that  time,  this  Avay  of  life,  now  so  com- 
mon, was  very  infrequent.  None,  I  believe,  adopted  it,  but  a 
few  gentlemen  who  had  retired  wholly  from  business.  My 
mother  and  uncles  knew  my  father's  love  of  seclusion  and 
study,  and  feared  that,  if  he  should  once  settle  down  there, 
he  would  gradually  renounce  profession,  friends,  and  soci- 
ety, and  deprive  his  family  of  proper  opportunities  for  their 
education  and  companionship.  This  might  have  happened ; 
and  it  is  of  no  great  use  to  speculate  about  it ;  but  I  have 
always  thought  that  the  exercise  and  recreation  of  farming, 
and  the  pure  country  air,  would  have  been  salutary  to  both 
body  and  mind,  and  might  have  prolonged  his  life,  as  well 
as  increased  its  happiness. 

He  did  love  study  and  retirement,  but  not  these  alone ; 
nor  did  he  love  them  well  enough  to  sacrifice  to  them  all  his 
other  tastes.  He  would  never  have  lived  without  some 
society ;  and  it  would  have  pained  him  quite  as  much  as  his 
children,  if  he  had  taken  them  away  permanently  and  alto- 
gether from  their  educational  means  or  their  social  relations. 
Their  friends  were  his  friends ;  their  intimates  were  his  inti- 
mates ;  and  his  enjoyment  of  their  companions  was  as  great 
as  their  own.  For  he  had  one  love  as  great  and  as  certain 
as  his  love  of  books  ;  and  it  was  his  love  of  the  young. 
They  loved  to  be  about  him,  and  he  loved  to  have  them 
there. 

My  friend,  Richard  II.  Dana,  Jr.,  Esq.,  the  grandson  of 
Chief  Justice  Dana,  who  was,  as  the  letters  in  the  Appen- 
dix will  show,  an  intimate  friend  of  my  father's,  writes 
me:  "My  aunts  tell  me  that  your  father  was  very  fond  of 
children,  and  attached  them  to  him  very  strongly.  They 
were  in  great  delight  when  he  came  to  the  house.  This 
was  after  he  was  on  the  bench."  Let  me  interrupt  my  nar- 
rative long  enough  to  express  the  hope  that  my  friend  will 
find,  or  make,  even  in  the  midst  of  his  engrossing  business, 


348  MEMOIR  OF 

leisure  to  give  to  the  community  a  memoir  of  his  ancestor, 
who  was  not  only  distinguished  as  the  head  of  our  judici- 
ary, but  so  active  and  useful  in  our  Revolutionary  struggles, 
and  in  the  construction  of  our  institutions,  that  the  history 
of  those  times  cannot  be  well  understood  without  under- 
standing his  conduct  and  character. 

I  have  mentioned  before,  as  among  my  father's  traits,  the 
great  enjoyment  he  had  in  teaching  the  young.  I  had,  until 
a  few  months  since,  a  cousin,  Moses  Parsons  Gray,  the  son 
of  my  father's  sister  Susan,  Avho  proposed  to  go  to  sea  and 
earn  his  living  in  that  way,  as  the  large  shipping  interests  of 
my  two  uncles  offered  him  favorable  opportunities.  For  this 
purpose  he  wished  to  learn  scientific  and  practical  naviga- 
tion, meaning  thereby,  not  the  management  of  a  ship,  but  the 
art  of  ascertaining  the  ship's  progress  and  place  by  astronom- 
ical observations  and  calculations.  Mr.  Gray  wrote  to  me : 
"  Uncle  offered  to  instruct  me,  remarking  that  it  would  be 
an  amusement  to  him,  and  that  he  should  like  to  brush  up 
some  of  his  old  studies.  I  used  to  study  in  Avhat  leisure 
time  I  had  in  the  day,  and  go  to  him  in  the  evening,  recite 
my  lessons,  and  state  what  difficulties  I  had  met  with ;  and 
he,  without  ever  having  occasion  to  look  at  a  book,  would 
explain  everything  that  looked  to  me  dark,  and  make  every- 
thing clear.  I  continued  the  study  until  I  made  myself 
thoroughly  master  of  it ;  and  I  never  found  him  at  any  time 
the  least  at  a  loss,  for  he  had  at  command,  and  could  call  up 
at  will,  not  only  the  theory,  but  all  the  rules  of  the  science, 
as  completely  and  promptly  as  though  he  had  been  em- 
ployed all  his  life  in  teaching  navigation,  and  nothing  else. 
At  this  time  he  was  in  his  fullest  practice,  and  his  days 
were  all  employed  in  his  office  in  examining  and  deciding 
intricate  and  abstruse  questions  of  law." 

lie  very  frequently  formed  classes  of  his  children,  and 
some  of  their  companions,  and  taught  them  various  things. 
The  two  I  best  remember  his  teaching  thus  were  elemen- 
tary astronomy,  with  the  use  of  the  globes,  of  which  he  had 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  349 

the  best  to  be  procured  in  London,  and  botany.  Of  this  last 
science  I  do  not  think  he  knew  much.  Of  structural  botany 
little  was  known  in  his  day,  and  he  did  not  take  much  inter- 
est in  systematic  botany.  But  he  was  familiar  with  its  ele- 
ments, on  the  Linnocan  system,  and  had  the  best  books ; 
and  he  seemed  to  take  great  pleasure  in  teaching  those  ele- 
ments, partly,  as  I  remember,  by  his  books,  and  partly  by 
inspection  of  flowers.  I  have  even  now  the  remains  of  a 
botanical  microscope  which  Dr.  Prince  imported  for  him. 

Such  was  my  father ;  and  so  lived  he  in  his  home.  There 
alone  he  seemed  to  live  in  freedom ;  for  there  he  gave  him- 
self up  to  the  occupations  which  he  loved  best ;  and  there 
he  found  the  refreshment  and  happiness  which  strengthened 
him  for  the  discharge  of  those  duties,  which  alone  drew  him 
abroad.  He  not  only  loved  his  home,  but  may  almost  be 
said  to  have  loved  nothing  else.  It  was  only  duty  and  ne- 
cessity which  carried  him  abroad,  while  his  own  wishes  al- 
ways brought  him  back.  And  how  was  he  welcomed  there  ! 
Of  slavish  fear  I  never  knew,  or  saw,  or  can  now  remem- 
ber, the  slightest  sign.  But  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  a 
family  more  devoted  to  its  head. 

I  know  that  I  fail  to  give  my  readers  a  just  idea  of  him. 
in  his  social  and  his  family  relations ;  for  it  must  be  difficult 
for  them  to  reconcile  the  apparent  incongruities  of  his  char- 
acter. He  AV;XS  not,  at  any  time  or  in  any  measure,  a  silent, 
sullen,  solitary  man.  He  was  not,  in  any  sense  of  the  word, 
or  in  any  of  his  tastes  or  habits,  a  misanthrope.  Few  en- 
joy society  more  than  he  did ;  but  it  was,  almost  exclusively, 
society  that  came  to  him  and  found  him  in  his  own  home. 
The  world  outside  had  little  charm  for  him.  Indeed,  so  far 
as  taste  and  enjoyment  were  concerned,  he  seemed  to  take 
no  cognizance  of  it.  He  must  have  known  that  he  was,  to 
some  extent,  and  if  only  from  office,  an  eminent  man.  But 
if  he  ever  thought  of  popular  applause  or  popular  recog- 
nition, the  very  least  I  can  say  is,  that  he  had  no  love  for  it. 


350  MEMOIR   OF 

It  has  been  already  intimated,  that  this  man,  who  was  for 
many  years  conspicuous  in  a  profession  which,  more  than 
any  other,  forces  its  members  before  the  public,  and  who 
for  some  years  held  an  office  which  required  him  to  go  forth 
and  periodically  hold  open  court  before  all  the  citizens  in 
turn ;  who  was  an  earnest  student  of  a  great  variety  of 
subjects,  and  loved  to  write,  and  did  actually  write  very 
largely  and  variously,  and  supplied  others  with  many  things 
for  them  to  publish ;  and  who  spoke  as  easily  as  he  thought ; 
—  this  man  never  published  a  word  under  his  own  name  or 
any  name,  as  his  own  individual  work,  (unless  one  mathe- 
matical paper  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Amer- 
ican Academy  be  an  exception,)  and  never  in  his  life  made 
an  oration,  or  address,  or  a  speech  of  any  kind,  unless 
professional  or  official  duty  required  it.  He  belonged  to 
none  of  the  numerous  clubs  of  his  day.  And  if  I  do  not 
assert,  that  he  never  in  his  later  years,  and  seldom  if  ever 
at  any  period,  joined  in  any  procession  or  public  dinner,  or 
took  part  in  any  popular  gathering,  it  is  because  I  have  no 
means  of  proving  Avhat  all  that  I  have  ever  learned  from  his 
family  or  his  friends  concurs  with  my  own  recollection  in 
leading  me  to  believe.  '•  For  more  than  thirty  years."  said 
Chief  Justice  Parker,  in  1813,  "he  has  been  acknowledged 
as  the  great  man  of  his  time."  If  this  were  so,  I  am  sure 
that  he  did  not  greatly  desire  it,  or  greatly  enjoy  it. 

Such  was  my  father;  and  so  he  lived  among  us,  until  the 
hour  came  which  brought  his  summons  to  live  elsewhere. 

In  1813,  he  sat  during  the  March  term  in  Boston,  but 
he  did  not  go  to  the  State  (then  the  Province  or  District)  of 
Maine,  to  hold  the  Spring  and  Summer  terms  there ;  but 
he  went  to  Worcester  in  the  Autumn. 

Chief  Justice  Parker  says :  "  Parsons  died  in  (lie  zenith 
of  his  reputation,  in  the  full  strength  of  his  understanding." 
And  yet  I  think  there  had  been  some,  failure  lor  a  year  or 
more  before  his  death.  I  am  entirely  unable  to  point  to 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  351 

any  specific  fact  in  proof  of  this  ;  and,  out  of  my  own  fam- 
ily, I  never  heard  a  word  suggesting  it.  For  the  news- 
papers of  the  day,  and  all  persons  whom  I  have  ever  heard 
speak  of  his  death,  have  represented  it  as  finding  him  in  the 
full  vigor  of  his  powers.  Still,  although  I  was  quite  young, 
I  remember  some  change  in  his  habits  and  appearance  for 
months  before.  There  was  not  the  usual  vigor  and  cheer- 
fulness. He  would  sometimes  lay  down  his  book  as  if  it 
wearied  him,  and  sit  silent  for  some  minutes ;  and  if  he 
were  writing,  he  would  pause,  lay  down  the  pen,  and  rest 
his  head  upon  his  hand  as  if  overworked.  Sometimes  he 
would  come  from  the  office  into  the  sitting-room,  and  walk 
up  and  down  a  few  times,  or  sit  for  a  moment  in  a  chair, 
silent  and  unoccupied,  and  then  return.  All  this  struck  me 
the  more,  because,  until  that  period,  I  had  never  known  him 
wholly  unoccupied  at  any  time  whatsoever.  He  was  always 
doing  something,  with  book  or  pen  or  instrument,  or  engaged 
in  conversation.  But  this  necessity  of  perpetual  activity 
seemed  to  have  given  way  to  a  necessity  for  repose.  Per- 
haps my  attention  was  drawn  to  this  the  more,  because  I 
observed  my  mother  and  my  elder  brother  noticing  such 
things  with  sadness  and  fear.  If  I  may  trust  to  my  recol- 
lections at  all,  I  should  say  that  his  intellectual  powers  had 
not  abated,  but  that  a  sluggishness  was  creeping  over  them, 
and  they  could  only  be  roused  to  do  what  once  was  done 
with  prompt  and  eager  spontaneousness. 

But  all  things  went  on  as  usual,  with  rather  less  complaint 
of  ill  health  than  common,  until  the  summer  of  1813.  It 
was  then  that  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Chief  Justice  Parker,  in 
which  he  says  :  "  I  thank  you  for  your  line  from  Westfield, 
and  very  much  regret  that  I  cannot  oblige  my  Hampshire 
friends  by  meeting  you  to-morrow  evening  at  Northampton, 
as  was  indeed  my  intention  and  expectation  when  you  left 
me.  Since  that  time  I  have  been  very  unwell,  not  from  any 
return  of  my  specific  disease,  but  from  a  general  increasing 
debility  of  my  whole  frame.  It  has  been  owing  either  to 


352  MEMOIR   OF 

the  failure  of  my  constitution,  or  to  the  effect  of  this  season 
of  the  year.  My  physician  attributes  it  to  the  latter  cause, 
and  I  am  Avilling  to  believe  him.  He  proposes  to  give  me 
active  medicine  to-morrow,  and  assures  me  that  I  shall  be 
able  to  meet  you  at  Worcester  next  week.  So  be  it.  I 
shall  do  the  best  I  can,  and  trust  that  I  shall  see  you  at  our 
old  lodgings  in  Worcester.  If  I  do  not,  I  shall  almost  de- 
spair of  ever  again  discharging  the  duties  of  our  depart- 
ment." 

This  letter  is  dated  September  loth,  1813.  Later  in  the 
month,  my  father  went  to  Worcester,  as  has  been  said,  and 
held  court  as  usual.  But  while  there,  he  began  to  be  trou- 
bled by  an  irritating  humor.  After  his  return,  this  increased 
until  it  spread  round  his  whole  body.  This  irritation  was 
violent  and  constant,  accompanied  by  some  fever.  It  har- 
assed him  the  more,  because  it  was  a  new  thing,  as  he 
never  before  had  the  slightest  eruption.  He  could  not  eat 
nor  sleep ;  and  was  wearied,  and  then  ill,  and  kept  his 
chamber.  Dr.  Rand,  whose  prescriptions  thus  far  had 
given  no  relief,  said,  one  day :  "  There  is  a  remedy,  if  you 
like  to  try  it,  which  is  sometimes  extremely  efficacious." 
"  AVhat  is  it  ?  "  "  Water,  almost  scalding.  Take  a  bath  of 
water,  just  as  hot  as  you  can  possibly  bear  it,  and  lie  there 
as  long  as  you  can.  I  have  known  it  cure  skin  disease 
almost  at  once."  My  father  was  ready  to  try  anything. 
My  brother,  who  put  him  into  the  bath,  has  told  me  that  it 
was  so  hot  he  himself  could  not  bear  his  hand  in  it,  and  that 
he  begged  my  father  to  have  it  made  cooler.  But  no  ;  lie 
got  in,  although  sin-inking,  and  evidently  suffering  extremely. 
He  stayed  there  an  hour,  and  then  returned  to  his  bed. 
The  humor  appeared  to  dry  up  almost  at  once,  and  in  a  day 
or  two  was  all  gone  ;  and  in  three  weeks  my  lather  was 
dead. 

Whether  the  bath  caused  the  retrocession  of  the  humor, 
and  whether  this  caused  his  death,  can  never  be  known. 
Dr.  Hand  thought  the  hot  water  might  have  cured  the 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  353 

humor,  but  could  not  have  made  him  sick.  My  mother 
and  my  brother  thought  it  killed  him.  But  if  it  were  so, 
it  may  well  be  that  it  killed  him  only  because  his  strength 
and  vitality  were  so  nearly  exhausted,  that  a  slight  cause 
was  sufficient  to  destroy  the  little  that  was  left. 

After  the  humor  was  cured,  my  father  came  down  stairs 
for  a  day  or  two,  complaining,  however,  of  a  new  but  inces- 
sant uneasiness  in  his  head.  lie  said  it  was  not  pain,  but 
"  great  discomfort ;  and  it  won't  let  me  do  anything."  He 
soon  returned  to  his  chamber,  and  sat  there,  neither  reading 
nor  writing  during  the  day.  For  some  days  there  Avas  but 
little  change,  except  that  he  seemed  to  grow  weaker,  and 
sleepy,  and  the  uneasiness  of  the  brain  continued.  One 
evening,  as  he  sat  in  his  chair,  in  his  chamber,  with  most  of 
his  children  around  him,  he  looked  up  to  my  brother-in-law, 
Mr.  Watson,  and  said,  "  Mr.  Tudor,  I  wish  you  would  —  " 
and  suddenly  stopping,  said,  "  Now  Avhat  could  have  made 
me  call  you  Mr.  Tudor ;  was  it  not  strange  ?  "  I  perfectly 
remember  seeing  Dr.  Rand,  who  sat  by,  start  at  this,  and  he 
said,  almost  immediately,  "  Judge,  I  should  like  to  have  your 
head  shaved  and  blistered ;  I  think  it  would  relieve  that 
uneasiness."  "  Do  it  then  at  once,"  was  the  answer  ;  "  let 
me  get  rid  of  that  if  I  can."  The  blister  was  put  on  imme- 
diately, but  did  no  good.  The  next  day  my  father  kept  his 
bed,  and  became  fully  aware  of  his  danger,  which  I  think  he 
did  not  apprehend  before.  He  sent  for  Judge  Jackson  (to 
whom  he  had  previously  spoken  on  the  subject)  to  make 
his  will  ;  and  conversed,  as  one  who  knew  that  he  was 
dying,  with  his  wife,  his  brother,  and  his  children,  and  with 
his  pastor  and  one  or  two  friends  who  were  admitted  to 
see  him.  For  a  few  days  his  senses  remained  unimpaired. 
Then  his  sleepiness  deepened  into  lethargy,  and  when  he 
spoke,  it  was  as  one  in  a  dream.  Then  he  was  altogether 
silent  for  a  day  or  two,  and  then  he  died. 

During  his  last  illness,  Dr.  Rand  had  called  into  consulta- 
tion, Doctors  "Warren  and  Danforth.  After  his  death  they 
23 


354  MEMOIR  OF 

met  again,  and,  as  I  understood,  were  not  quite  agreed  as 
to  the  cause  of  it.  They,  however,  finally  said,  I  believe, 
that  he  died  of  hydrocephalic  apoplexy ;  or  of  pressure  of 
water  upon  the  brain.  There  was  no  examination  ;  but  I 
have  supposed,  on  the  authority  of  skilful  physicians  whom 
I  have  heard  speak  in  recent  times  of  his  death,  that  it  was 
a  rapid  termination  of  a  softening  of  the  brain  which  had 
began  a  considerable  time  before.  This  disease  was  not,  as  I 
am  told,  nearly  so  well  known  at  that  time  as  it  is  now. 

Two  circumstances  attended  my  father's  death,  neither  of 
which  is  unusual ;  but  they  struck  us  forcibly,  as  we  were 
listening  and  watching  with  our  whole  hearts. 

One  was,  the  evidence  that  his  thoughts,  when  he  could 
no  longer  control  them,  went  back  to  his  duties  and  his 
business,  and  responded  unconsciously  to  his  condition,  as 
death  drew  near  to  close  his  earthly  career.  When  he 
spoke,  it  was  as  a  judge,  giving  answers,  directions,  &c. 
At  last,  after  a  suspense  of  all  speech  so  long  that  we 
thought  we  should  never  hear  his  voice  again,  he  suddenly 
revived,  and,  with  perfect  distinctness,  spoke  for  the  last  time 
on  earth  that  formula  which  he  had  used  hundreds  of  times : 
"  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the  case  is  closed,  and  in  your 
hands.  You  will  please  retire  and  agree  upon  your  ver- 
dict." * 


*  Within  a  day  or  two  after  writing  this  paragraph,  I  read  Camp- 
bell's Life  of  Lord  Chief  Justice  Tenterdcn,  and  was  struck  with  the 
similarity  of  his  last  words.  "An  excess  of  fever  supervening,  he  was 
put  to  bed,  from  which  lie  never  rose.  He  became  delirious,  and  talked 
incoherently.  Afterwards,  he  seemed  to  recover  his  composure,  and, 
raising  his  head  from  the  pillow,  was  heard  to  say,  in  a  slow  and  sol- 
emn tone,  as  when  he  used  to  conclude  his  summing  up  in  cases  of 
great  importance,  '  And  now,  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  you  will  consider 
of  your  verdict.'  These  were  his  last  words.  When  he  had  uttered 
them,  his  head  sunk  down,  and  in  a  few  minutes  he  expired  without  a 
groan." 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS.  355 

The  other  circumstance  was  the  expression  upon  his  face. 
It  told  us  that  one  life  had  ended  only  because  another  had 
begun.  Byron's  beautiful  lines, 

"  He  who  hath  bent  him  o'er  the  dead, 
Ere  the  first  day  of  death  have  fled, 

And  marked  the  mild,  angelic  air, 
The  rapture  of  repose  that 's  there," 

illustrate  a  fact  which  has  always  been  noticed  by  observant 
persons,  that  the  face  of  the  recent  dead  often  wears  an 
aspect  of  happiness  and  peace.  My  father's  expression  was 
observed  by  all  who  saw  him,  and  could  not  escape  notice, 
It  was  indeed  one  of  triumphant  joy.  Southey,  in  his  Life 
of  Cowper,  says,  quoting  from  a  relation  of  the  circumstances 
of  his  death,  by  Mr.  Johnson :  "  From  that  moment  until  the 
coffin  was  closed,  the  expression  with  which  his  countenance 
had  settled,  was  that  of  calmness  and  composure,  mingled, 
as  it  were,  with  holy  surprise."  Such  a  circumstance  could 
not  but  suggest  to  the  friends  of  Cowper,  that  the  worn  and 
wearied  sufferer  had  discovered,  as  soon  as  death's  knid 
hand  opened  to  him  the  door  of  life,  that  there  was  a  sun 
which  could  scatter  the  dark  clouds  that  had  enwrapt  him 
with  utter  desolation.  But  my  father's  expression  was  en- 
tirely different.  There  was  no  surprise ;  but  there  was,  I 
repeat,  triumph.  It  was  the  look  of  one  who  had  prevailed 
in  a  great  controversy.  It  was  that  which  he  might  have 
worn  when  he  exhibited  to  a  jury  indisputable  evidence  of 
some  great  fact  which  he  had  asserted,  and  others  had  de- 
nied. His  face  was  always  expressive,  but  never  more 
distinctly  and  strongly  expressive  than  at  that  time.  I  shall 
never  forget  it,  for  the  whole  scene  is  as  distinctly  before 
me  now  as  if  it  were  but  of  yesterday.  I  am  well  aware 
how  easily  imagination  deludes  at  such  a  moment,  and  should 
not  venture  to  state  such  an  impression  if  it  were  my  own 
only.  But  many  saw  him,  and  saw  in  his  countenance  the 


356  MEMOIR  OF  CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS. 

same  meaning ;  and,  for  them  as  well  as  for  myself,  I  would 
say,  that  if  that  expression  could  have  found  utterance,  it 
would  have  been  in  words  like  these  :  "  See  there  the 
proof.  I  have  believed;  and  when  I  could  not  believe, 
I  have  hoped ;  and  through  all  objection,  uncertainty,  and 
despondency,  I  have  kept  my  belief  and  my  hope.  And 

now,  THERE  IS  THE  PROOF  THAT  I  WAS  RIGHT." 


APPENDIX 


NOTE. 


IN  the  course  of  the  preceding  Memoir,  I  have  said  of  several 
papers,  that  they  would  be  inserted  in  the  Appendix.  I  regret  here 
to  say  that  the  space  already  occupied  compels  me  to  omit  many  of 
them.  The  principal  of  these  arc  the  letters  of  my  uncle,  Theodore 
Parsons,  written  while  he  was  attached  as  surgeon  to  the  army,  and 
my  father's  Memorial  to  the  Legislature  concerning  Harvard  College. 


APPENDIX. 


No.    I. 

ESSEX  EESULT. 

RESULT  OF  THE  CONVENTION  OF  DELEGATES  HOLDEN  AT 
IPSWICH  IN  THE  COUNTY  OF  ESSEX,  WHO  WERE  DEPUTED 
TO  TAKE  INTO  CONSIDERATION  THE  CONSTITUTION  AND 
FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT  PROPOSED  BY  THE  CONVENTION 
OF  THE  STATE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS-BAY.  Newbury-Port : 
Printed  and  Sold  by  John  Mycall.  1 778. 

In  Convention  of  Delegates  from  the  several  towns  of  Lynn, 
Salem,  Danvers,  Wenham,  j\tanchester,  Gloucester,  Ipswich,  New- 
bury-Part,  Salisbury,  Mcthuen,  Boxford,  §•  Topsjleld,  liolden  by 
adjournment  at  Ipswich,  on  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  April,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  §•  seventy-eight. 

PETER  COFFIN  ESQ  ;  in  the  Chair. 

The  Constitution  and  form  of  Government  framed  by  the  Con- 
vention of  this  State,  was  read  paragraph  by  paragraph,  and 
after  debate,  the  following  votes  were  passed. 

1.  That  the  present  situation  of  this  State  renders  it  best,  that 
the  framing  of  a  Constitution  therefor,  should  be  postponed  'till 
the  public  affairs  are  in  a  more  peaceable  and  settled  condition. 

2.  That  a  bill  of  rights,  clearly  ascertaining  and  defining  the 
rights  of  conscience,  and  that  security  of  person  and  property, 
which  every  member  in  the   State  hath  a  right  to  expect  from 
the  supreme  power  thereof,  ought  to  be  settled  and  established, 
previous  to  the  ratification  of  any  constitution  for  the  State. 

3.  That  the  executive  power  in  any  State,  ought  not  to  have 
any  share  or  voice  in  the  legislative  power  in  framing  the  laws, 


360  APPENDIX. 

and  therefore,  that  the  second  article  of  the  Constitution  is  liable 
to  exception. 

4.  That  any  man  who  is  chosen  Governor,  ought  to  be  properly 
qualified  in  point  of  property  —  that  the  qualification  therefor, 
mentioned  in  the  third  article  of  the  Constitution,  is  not  suf- 
ficient—  nor  is  the  same  qualification  directed  to  be  ascertained 
on  fixed  principles,  as  it  ought  to  be,  on  account  of  the  fluctua- 
tion of  the  nominal  value  of  money,  and  of  property. 

5.  That  in  every  free  Republican  Government,  where  the  legis- 
lative power  is  rested  in  an  house  or  houses  of  representatives, 
all  the  members  of  the  State  ought  to  be  equally  represented. 

6.  That   the  mode  of  representation   proposed  in   the   sixth 
article  of  the  constitution,  is  not  so  equal  a  representation  as  can 
reasonably  be  devised. 

7.  That  therefore   the  mode  of  representation   in  said   sixth 
article  is  exceptionable. 

8.  That  the  representation   proposed  in   said   article  is  also 
exceptionable,  as  it  will  produce  an  unwieldy  assembly. 

9.  That  the  mode  of  election  of  Senators  pointed  out  in  the 
Constitution  is  exceptionable. 

10.  That  the  rights  of  conscience,  and  the  security  of  person 
and  property  each  member  of  the  State  is  entitled  to,  are  not 
ascertained   and  defined  in  the   Constitution,  with   a  precision 
sufficient  to  limit  the  legislative  power  —  and  therefore,  that  the 
thirteenth  article  of  the  constitution  is  exceptionable. 

11.  That  the  fifteenth  article  is  exceptionable,  because  the 
numbers  that  constitute  a  quorum  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives and  Senate,  are  too  small. 

12.  That  the  seventeenth   article  of  the   constitution  is  ex- 
ceptionable, because  the  supreme  executive  officer  is  not  vested 
with  proper  authority  —  and  because  an  independence  between 
the  executive  and  legislative  body  is  not  preserved. 

13.  That  the   nineteenth  article  is  exceptionable,  because  a 
due  independence  is  not  kept  up  between  the  supreme  legisla- 
tive, judicial,  and  executive  powers,  nor  between  any  two  of 
them. 

14.  That  the  twentieth  article  is  exceptionable,  because  the 
supreme  executive  officer  hath  a  voice,  and  must  be  present  in 
that  Court,  which  alone  hath  authority  to  try  impeachments. 

15.  That  the  twenty  second  article  is  exceptionable,  because 


ESSEX  RESULT.  361 

the  supreme  executive  power  is  not  preserved  distinct  from,  and 
independent  of,  the  supreme  legislative  power. 

1C.  That  the  twenty  third  article  is  exceptionable,  because  the 
power  of  granting  pardons  is  not  solely  vested  in  the  supreme 
executive  power  of  the  State. 

1 7.  That  the  twenty  eighth  article  is  exceptionable,  because 
the  delegates  for  the  Continental  Congress  may  be  elected  by 
the  House  of  Representatives,  when  all  the  Senators  may  vote 
against  the  election  of  those  who  arc  delegated. 

18.  That  the  thirty  fourth  article  is  exceptionable,  because  the 
rights  of  conscience  are  not  therein  clearly  defined  and  ascer- 
tained ;  and  further,  because  the  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  of 
religious  worship  is  there  said  to  be  allowed  to  all  the  protestants 
in  the  State,  when  in  fact,  that  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  is 
the  natural  and  uncontroulable  right  of  every  member  of  the 
State. 

A  committee  was  then  appointed  to  attempt  the  ascertaining 
of  the  true  principles  of  government,  applicable  to  the  territory 
of  the  Massachusetts-Bay ;  to  state  the  non-conformity  of  the 
constitution  proposed  by  the  Convention  of  this  State  to  those 
principles,  and  to  delineate  the  general  outlines  of  a  constitution 
conformable  thereto ;  and  to  report  the  same  to  this  Body. 

This  Convention  was  then  adjourned  to  the  twelfth  day  of 
May  next,  to  be  holden  at  Ipswich. 

The  Convention  met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  and  their  com- 
mittee presented  the  following  report. 

The  committee  appointed  by  this  Convention  at  their  last 
adjournment,  have  proceeded  upon  the  service  assigned  them. 
With  diffidence  have  they  undertaken  the  several  parts  of  their 
duty,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  have  executed  them,  they 
submit  to  the  candor  of  this  Body.  When  they  considered  of 
what  vast  consequence,  the  forming  of  a  Constitution  is  to  the 
members  of  this  State,  the  length  of  time  that  is  necessary  to 
canvass  and  digest  any  proposed  plan  of  government,  before  the 
establishment  of  it,  and  the  consummate  coolness,  and  solemn 
deliberation  which  should  attend,  not  only  those  gentlemen  who 
have,  reposed  in  them,  the  important  trust  of  delineating  the  sev- 
eral lines  in  which  the  various  powers  of  government  are  to 
move,  but  also  all  those,  who  are  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  execu- 
tion of  that  trust,  your  committee  must  be  excused  when  they 


362  APPENDIX. 

express  a  surprise  and  regret,  that  so  short  a  time  is  allowed  the 
freemen  inhabiting  the  territory  of  the  Massachusetts-Bay,  to 
revise  and  comprehend  the  form  of  government  proposed  to 
them  by  the  convention  of  this  State,  to  compare  it  with  those 
principles  on  which  every  free  government  ought  to  be  founded, 
and  to  ascertain  it's  conformity  or  non-conformity  thereto.  All 
this  is  necessary  to  be  done,  before  a  true  opinion  of  it's  merit  or 
demerit  can  be  formed.  This  opinion  is  to  be  certified  within  a 
time  which,  in  our  apprehension,  is  much  too  short  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  to  be  certified  by  a  people  who,  during  that  time,  have 
had  and  will  have  their  minds  perplexed  and  oppressed  with 
a  variety  of  public  cares.  The  committee  also  beg  leave  to 
observe,  that  the  constitution  proposed  for  public  approbation, 
was  formed  by  gentlemen,  who,  at  the  same  time,  had  a  large 
share  in  conducting  an  important  war,  and  who  were  employed 
in  carrying  into  execution  almost  all  the  various  powers  of  gov- 
ernment. 

The  committee  however  proceeded  in  attempting  the  task 
assigned  them,  and  the  success  of  that  attempt  is  now  reported. 

The  reason  and  understanding  of  mankind,  as  well  as  the 
experience  of  all  ages,  confirm  the  truth  of  this  proposition,  that 
the  benefits  resulting  to  individuals  from  a  free  government,  con- 
duce much  more  to  their  happiness,  than  the  retaining  of  all 
their  natural  rights  in  a  state  of  nature.  These  benefits  are 
greater  or  less,  as  the  form  of  government,  and  the  mode  of 
exercising  the  supreme  power  of  the  State,  are  more  or  less 
conformable  to  those  principles  of  equal  impartial  liberty,  which 
is  the  property  of  all  men  from  their  birth  as  the  gift  of  their 
Creator,  compared  with  the  manners  and  genius  of  the  people, 
their  occupations,  customs,  modes  of  thinking,  situation,  extent 
of  country,  and  numbers.  If  the  constitution  and  form  of  gov- 
ernment are  wholly  repugnant  to  those  principles,  wretched  are 
the  subjects  of  that  State.  They  have  surrendered  a  portion  of 
their  natural  rights,  the  enjoyment  of  which  was  in  some  degree 
a  blessing,  and  the  consequence  is,  they  find  themselves  stripped 
of  the  remainder.  As  an  anodyne  to  compose  the  spirits  of  these 
slaves,  and  to  lull  them  into  a  passively  obedient  state,  they  are 
told,  that  tyranny  is  preferable  to  no  government  at  all ;  a  propo- 
sition which  is  to  be  doubted,  unless  considered  under  some 
limitation.  Surely  a  state  of  nature  is  more  excellent  than  that, 


ESSEX  BESULT.  363 

in  which  men  arc  meanly  submissive  to  the  haughty  will  of  an 
imperious  tyrant,  whose  savage  passions  are  not  bounded  by  the 
laws  of  reason,  religion,  honor,  or  a  regard  to  his  subjects,  and 
the  point  to  which  all  his  movements  center,  is  the  gratification 
of  a  brutal  appetite.  As  in  a  state  of  nature  much  happiness 
cannot  be  enjoyed  by  individuals,  so  it  has  been  conformable  to 
the  inclinations  of  almost  all  men,  to  enter  into  a  political  society 
so  constituted,  as  to  remove  the  inconveniences  they  were  obliged 
to  submit  to  in  their  former  state,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  retain 
all  those  natural  rights,  the  enjoyment  of  which  would  be  con- 
sistent with  the  nature  of  a  free  government,  and  the  necessary 
subordination  to  the  supreme  power  of  the  state. 

To  determine  what  form  of  government,  in  any  given  case, 
will  produce  the  greatest  possible  happiness  to  the  subject,  is 
an  arduous  task,  not  to  be  compassed  perhaps  by  any  human 
powers.  Some  of  the  greatest  geniuses  and  most  learned  philos- 
ophers of  all  ages,  impelled  by  their  sollicitude  to  promote  the 
happiness  of  mankind,  have  nobly  dared  to  attempt  it  :  and 
their  labours  have  crowned  them  with  immortality.  A  Solon,  a 
Lycurgus  of  Greece,  a  Numa  of  Rome  are  remembered  with 
honor,  when  the  wide  extended  empires  of  succeeding  tyrants, 
are  hardly  important  enough  to  be  faintly  sketched  out  on  the 
map,  while  their  superb  thrones  have  long  since  crumbled  into 
dust.  The  man  who  alone  undertakes  to  form  a  constitution, 
ought  to  be  an  unimpassioned  being  :  one  enlightened  mind ; 
biassed  neither  by  the  lust  of  power,  the  allurements  of  pleasure, 
nor  the  glitter  of  wealth  ;  perfectly  acquainted  with  all  the 
alienable  and  unalienable  rights  of  mankind :  possessed  of  this 
grand  truth,  that  all  men  are  born  equally  free,  and  that  no 
man  ought  to  surrender  any  part  of  his  natural  rights,  without 
receiving  the  greatest  possible  'equivalent ;  and  influenced  by  the 
impartial  principles  of  rectitude  and  justice,  without  partiality 
for,  or  prejudice  against  the  interest  or  professions  of  any  indi- 
viduals or  class  of  men.  He  ought  also  to  be  master  of  the 
histories  of  all  the  empires  and  states  which  are  now  existing, 
and  all  those  which  have  figured  in  antiquity,  and  thereby  able 
to  collect  and  blend  their  respective  excellencies,  and  avoid 
those  defects  which  experience  hath  pointed  out.  Rousseau,  a 
learned  foreigner,  a  citizen  of  Geneva,  sensible  of  the  importance 
and  difficulty  of  the  subject,  thought  it  impossible  for  any  body 


364  APPENDIX. 

of  people,  to  form  a  free  and  equal  constitution  for  themselves,  in 
which,  every  individual  should  have  equal  justice  done  him,  and 
be  permitted  to  enjoy  a  share  of  power  in  the  state,  equal  to 
what  should  be  enjoyed  by  any  other.  Each  individual,  said  he, 
will  stru^le,  not  only  to  retain  all  his  own  natural  rights,  but  to 

CO  * 

acquire  a  controul  over  those  of  others.  Fraud,  circumvention, 
and  an  union  of  interest  of  some  classes  of  people,  combined  with 
an  inattention  to  the  rights  of  posterity,  will  prevail  over  the 
principles  of  equity,  justice,  and  good  policy.  The  Genevans, 
perhaps  the  most  virtuous  republicans  now  existing,  thought  like 
Rousseau.  They  called  the  celebrated  Calvin  to  their  assist- 
ance. He  came,  and,  by  their  gratitude,  have  they  embalmed 
his  memory. 

The  freemen  inhabiting  the  territory  of  the  Massachusctts- 
Bay  are  now  forming  a  political  society  for  themselves.  Perhaps 
their  situation  is  more  favorable  in  some  respects,  for  erecting  a 
free  government,  than  any  other  people  were  ever  favored  with. 
That  attachment  to  old  forms,  which  usually  embarrasses,  has 
not  place  amongst  them.  They  have  the  history  and  experience 
of  all  States  before  them.  Mankind  have  been  toiling  through 
ages  for  their  information  ;  and  the  philosophers  and  learned 
men  of  antiquity  have  trimmed  their  midnight  lamps,  to  transmit 
to  them  instruction.  We  live  also  in  an  age,  when  the  principles 
of  political  liberty,  and  the  foundation  of  governments,  have  been 
freely  canvassed,  and  fairly  settled.  Yet  some  difficulties  we 
have  to  encounter.  Not  content  with  removing  our  attachment 
to  the  old  government,  perhaps  we  have  contracted  a  prejudice 
against  some  part  of  it  without  foundation.  The  idea  of  liberty 
has  been  held  up  in  so  dazzling  colours,  that  some  of  us  may  not 
be  willing  to  submit  to  that  subordination  necessary  in  the  freest 
States.  Perhaps  we  may  say  further,  that  we  do  not  consider 
ourselves  united  as  brothers,  with  an  united  interest,  but  have 
fancied  a  clashing  of  interests  amongst  the  various  classes  of 
men,  and  have  acquired  a  thirst  of  power,  and  a  wish  of  domina- 
tion, over  some  of  the  community.  We  are  contending  for  free- 
dom  Let  us  all  be  equally  free  —  It  is  possible,  and  it  is  just. 

Our  interests  when  candidly  considered  arc  one.  Let  us  have 
a  constitution  founded,  not  upon  party  or  prejudice.  —  not  one  for 
to-day  or  to-morrow  —  but  for  posterity.  Let  Ksto  pcrpetua  be 
it's  motto.  If  it  is  founded  in  good  policy ;  it  will  be  founded  in 


ESSEX  RESULT.  365 

justice  and  honesty.  Let  all  ambitious  and  interested  views  be 
discarded,  and  let  regard  be  had  only  to  the  good  of  the  -whole, 
in  which  the  situation  and  rights  of  posterity  must  be  considered : 
and  let  equal  justice  be  done  to  all  the  members  of  the  community ; 
and  we  thereby  imitate  our  common  father,  who  at  our  births,  dis- 
persed his  favors,  not  only  with  a  liberal,  but  with  an  equal  hand. 

Was  it  asked,  what  is  the  best  form  of  government  for  the 
people  of  the  Massachusetts-Bay  ?  we  confess  it  would  be  a 
question  of  infinite  importance :  and  the  man  who  could  truly 
answer  it,  would  merit  a  statue  of  gold  to  his  memory,  and  his 
fame  would  be  recorded  in  the  annals  of  late  posterity,  with 
unrivalled  lustre.  The  question,  however,  must  be  answered, 
and  let  it  have  the  best  answer  we  can  possibly  give  it.  Was  a 
man  to  mention  a  despotic  government,  his  life  would  be  a  just 
forfeit  to  the  resentments  of  an  affronted  people.  Was  he  to 
hint  monarchy,  he  would  deservedly  be  hissed  off  the  stage,  and 
consigned  to  infamy.  A  republican  form  is  the  only  one  con- 
sonant to  the  feelings  of  the  generous  and  brave  Americans. 
Let  us  now  attend  to  those  principles,  upon  which  all  republican 
governments,  who  boast  any  degree  of  political  liberty,  are 
founded,  and  which  must  enter  into  the  spirit  of  a  FREE  repub- 
lican constitution.  For  all  republics  are  not  FREE. 

All  men  are  born  equally  free.  The  rights  they  possess  at 
their  births  are  equal,  and  of  the  same  kind.  Some  of  those 
rights  are  alienable,  and  may  be  parted  with  for  an  equivalent. 
Others  are  unalienable  and  inherent,  and  of  that  importance, 
that  no  equivalent  can  be  received  in  exchange.  Sometimes  we 
shall  mention  the  surrendering  of  a  power  to  controul  our  natu- 
ral rights,  which  perhaps  is  speaking  with  more  precision,  than 
when  we  use  the  expression  of  parting  with  natural  rights — 
but  the  same  thing  is  intended.  Those  rights  which  are  unalien- 
able, and  of  that  importance,  are  called  the  rights  of  conscience. 
We  have  duties,  for  the  discharge  of  which  we  are  accountable 
to  our  Creator  and  benefactor,  which  no  human  power  can 
cancel.  What  those  duties  are,  is  determinable  by  right  reason, 
which  may  be,  and  is  called,  a  well  informed  conscience.  What 
this  conscience  dictates  as  our  duty,  is  so ;  and  that  power  which 
assumes  a  controul  over  it,  is  an  usurper  ;  for  no  consent  can  be 
pleaded  to  justify  the  controul,  as  any  consent  in  this  case  is 
void.  The  alienation  of  some  rights,  in  themselves  alienable, 


366  APPENDIX. 

may  be  also  void,  if  the  bargain  is  of  that  nature,  that  no  equiv- 
alent can  be  received.  Thus,  if  a  man  surrender  all  his  alien- 
able rights,  without  reserving  a  controul  over  the  supreme  power, 
or  a  right  to  resume  in  certain  cases,  the  surrender  is  void,  for  he 
becomes  a  slave  ;  and  a  slave  can  receive  no  equivalent.  Com- 
mon equity  would  set  aside  this  bargain. 

/  3Vhen  men  form  themselves  into  society,  and  erect  a  body 
politic  or  State,  they  are  to  be  considered  as  one  moral  whole, 
which  is  in  possession  of  the  supreme  power  of  the  State.  This 
supreme  power  is  composed  of  the  powers  of  each  individual  col- 
lected together,  and  VOLUNTARILY  parted  with  by  him.  !No 
individual,  in  this  case,  parts  with  his  unalienable  rights,  the 
supreme  power  therefore  cannot  controul  them.  Each  indi- 
vidual also  surrenders  the  power  of  controuling  his  natural  alien- 
able rights,  ONLY  WHEN  THE  GOOD  OF  THE  WHOLE  REQUIRES 

it.  The  supreme  power  therefore  can  do  nothing  but  what  is 
for  the  good  of  the  whole  ;  and  when  it  goes  beyond  this  line,  it 
is  a  power  usurped/  If  the  individual  receives  an  equivalent  for 
the  right  of  controul  he  has  parted  with,  the  surrender  of  that 
right  is  valid  ;  if  he  receives  no  equivalent,  the  surrender  is  void, 
and  the  supreme  power  as  it  respects  him  is  an  usurper.  If  the 
supreme  power  is  so  directed  and  executed  that  he  docs  not 
enjoy  political  liberty,  it  is  an  illegal  power,  and  he  is  not  bound 
to  obey.  Political  liberty  is  by  some  defined,  a  liberty  of  doing 
whatever  is  not  prohibited  by  law.  The  definition  is  erroneous. 
A  tyrant  may  govern  by  laws.  The  republics  of  Venice  and 
Holland  govern  by  laws,  yet  those  republics  have  degenerated 
into  insupportable  tyrannies.  Let  it  be  thus  defined  ;  political 
liberty  is  the  right  every  man  in  the  state  has,  to  do  whatever  is 
not  prohibited  by  laws,  TO  WHICH  HE  HAS  GIVEN  HIS  CON- 
SENT. This  definition  is  in  unison  with  the  feelings  of  a  free 
people.  But  to  return  —  If  a  fundamental  principle  on  which 
each  individual  enters  into  society  is,  that  he  shall  be  Ixnuul  by 
no  laws  but  those  to  which  he  has  consented,  he  cannot  be  con- 
sidered as  consenting  to  any  law  ensicted  by  a  minority  :  for  he 
parts  with  the  power  of  controuling  his  natural  rights,  only  when 
the  good  of  the  whole  requires  it ;  and  of  this  there  can  be  but 
one  absolute  judge  in  the  State.  If  the  minority  can  assume  the 
right  of  judging,  there  may  then  be  two  judges ;  for  however 
large  the  minority  may  be,  there  must  be  another  body  still 


ESSEX  RESULT.  357 

larger,  who  have  the  same  claim,  if  not  a  better,  to  the  right  of 
absolute  determination.  If  therefore  the  supreme  power  should 
be  so  modelled  and  exerted,  that  a  law  may  be  enacted  by  a 
minority,  the  inforcing  of  that  law  upon  an  individual  who  is 
opposed  to  it,  is  an  act  of  tyranny.  Further,  as  every  individual, 
in  entering  into  the  society,  parted  with  a  power  of  controuling 
his  natural  rights  equal  to  that  parted  with  by  any  other,  or  in 
other  words,  as  all  the  members  of  the  society  contributed  an 
equal  portion  of  their  natural  rights,  towards  the  forming  of  the 
supreme  power,  so  every  member  ought  to  receive  equal  benefit 
from,  have  equal  influence  in  forming,  and  retain  an  equal  con- 
troul  over,  the  supreme  power. 

It  has  been  observed,  that  each  individual  parts  with  the 
power  of  controuling  his  natural  alienable  rights,  only  when  the 
good  of  the  whole  requires  it ;  he  therefore  has  remaining,  after 
entering  into  political  society,  all  his  unalienable  natural  rights, 
and  a  part  also  of  his  alienable  natural  rights,  provided  the  good 
of  the  whole  does  not  require  the  sacrifice  of  them.  Over  the 
class  of  unalienable  rights  the  supreme  power  hath  no  controul, 
and  they  ought  to  be  clearly  defined  and  ascertained  in  a  BILL 
OF  RIGHTS,  previous  to  the  ratification  of  any  constitution. 
The  bill  of  rights  should  also  contain  the  equivalent  every  man 
receives,  as  a  consideration  for  the  rights  he  has  surrendered. 
This  equivalent  consists  principally  in  the  security  of  his  person 
and  property,  and  is  also  unassailable  by  the  supreme  power :  for 
if  the  equivalent  is  taken  back,  those  natural  rights  which  were 
parted  with  to  purchase  it,  return  to  the  original  proprietor,  as 
nothing  is  more  true,  than  that  ALLECHAXCE  AND  PROTECTION 

ARE   RECIPROCAL. 

The  committee  also  proceeded  to  consider  upon  what  prin- 
ciples, and  in  what  manner,  the  supreme  power  of  the  state  thus 
composed  of  the  powers  of  the  several  individuals  thereof,  may 
be  formed,  modelled,  and  exerted  in  a  republic,  so  that  every 
member  of  the  state  may  enjoy  political  liberty.  This  is  called 
by  some,  the  ascertaining  of  the  political  law  of  the  state.  Let  it 
now  be  called  the  forming  of  a  constitution, 

The  reason  why  the  supreme  governor  of  the  world  is  a  right- 
ful and  just  governor,  and  entitled  to  the  allegiance  of  the 
universe  is,  because  he  is  infinitely  good,  wise,  and  powerful. 
His  goodness  prompts  him  to  the  best  measures,  his  wisdom 


368  APPENDIX. 

qualifies  him  to  discern  them,  and  his  power  to  effect  them.  In  a 
state  likewise,  the  supreme  power  is  best  disposed  of,  when  it  is 
so  modelled  and  balanced,  and  rested  in  such  hands,  that  it  has 
the  greatest  share  of  goodness,  wisdom,  and  power,  which  is  con- 
sistent with  the  lot  of  humanity. 

That  state,  (other  things  being  equal)  which  has  reposed  the 
supreme  power  in  the  hands  of  one  or  a  small  number  of  per- 
sons, is  the  most  powerful  state.  An  union,  expedition,  secrecy 
and  dispatch  are  to  be  found  only  here.  Where  power  is  to 
be  executed  by  a  large  number,  there  will  not  probably  be 
either  of  the  requisites  just  mentioned.  Many  men  have  various 
opinions  :  and  each  one  will  be  tenacious  of  his  own,  as  he  thinks 
it  preferable  to  any  other  ;  for  when  he  thinks  otherwise,  it  will 
cease  to  be  his  opinion.  From  this  diversity  of  opinions  results 
disunion  ;  from  disunion,  a  want  of  expedition  and  dispatch. 
And  the  larger  the  number  to  whom  a  secret  is  entrusted,  the 
greater  is  the  probability  of  it's  disclosure.  This  inconvenience 
more  fully  strikes  us  when  we  consider  that  want  of  secrecy 
may  prevent  the  successful  execution  of  any  measures,  however 
excellently  formed  and  digested. 

But  from  a  single  person,  or  a  very  small  number,  we  are  not 
to  expect  that  political  honesty,  and  upright  regard  to  the 
interest  of  the  body  of  the  people,  and  the  civil  rights  of  each 
individual,  which  are  essential  to  a  good  and  free  constitution. 
For  these  qualities  we  are  to  go  to  the  body  of  the  people.  The 
voice  of  the  people  is  said  to  be  the  voice  of  God.  No  man  will 
be  so  hardy  and  presumptuous,  as  to  affirm  the  truth  of  that 
proposition  in  it's  fullest  extent.  But  if  this  is  considered  as  the 
intent  of  it,  that  the  people  have  always  a  disposition  to  pro- 
mote their  own  happiness,  and  that  when  they  have  time  to  be 
informed,  and  the  necessary  means  of  information  given  them, 
they  will  be  able  to  determine  upon  the  necessary  measures 
therefor,  no  man,  of  a  tolerable  acquaintance  with  mankind,  will 
deny  the  truth  of  it.  The  inconvenience  and  difficulty  in  form- 
ing any  free  permanent  constitution  are,  that  such  is  the  lot  of 
humanity,  the  bulk  of  the  people,  whose  happiness  is  principally 
to  be  consulted  in  forming  a  constitution,  and  in  legislation,  (as 
they  include  the  majority)  are  so  situated  in  life,  and  such  are 
their  laudable  occupations,  that  they  cannot  have  time  for,  nor 
the  means  of  furnishing  themselves  with  proper  information,  but 


ESSEX  RESULT.  3^9 

must  be  indebted  to  some  of  their  fellow  subjects  for  the  com- 
munication. Happy  is  the  man,  and  blessings  will  attend  his 
memory,  who  shall  improve  his  leisure,  and  those  abilities  which 
heaven  has  indulged  him  with,  in  communicating  that  true 
information,  and  impartial  knowledge,  to  his  fellow  subjects, 
which  will  insure  their  happiness.  But  the  artful  demagogue, 
who  to  gratify  his  ambition  or  avarice,  shall,  with  the  gloss  of 
false  patriotism,  mislead  his  countrymen,  and  meanly  snatch 
from  them  the  golden  glorious  opportunity  of  forming  a  system 
of  political  and  civil  liberty,  fraught  with  blessings  for  themselves, 
and  remote  posterity,  what  language  can  paint  his  demerit  ?  The 
execrations  of  ages  will  be  a  punishment  inadequate ;  and  his 
name,  though  ever  blackening  as  it  rolls  down  the  stream  of 
time,  will  not  catch  its  proper  hue. 

Yet,  when  we  are  forming  a  Constitution,  by  deductions 
that  follow  from  established  principles,  (which  is  the  only  good 
method  of  forming  one  for  futurity.)  we  are  to  look  further  than 
to  the  bulk  of  the  people,  for  the  greatest  wisdom,  firmness,  con- 
sistency, and  perseverance.  These  qualities  will  most  probably 
be  found  amongst  men  of  education  and  fortune.  From  such 
men  we  are  to  expect  genius  cultivated  by  reading,  and  all  the 
various  advantages  and  assistances,  which  art,  and  a  liberal 
education  aided  by  wealth,  can  furnish.  From  these  result 
learning,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  interests  of  their  country, 
when  considered  abstractedly,  when  compared  with  the  neigh- 
bouring States,  and  when  with  those  more  remote,  and  an 
acquaintance  with  it's  produce  and  manufacture,  and  it's  exports 
and  imports.  All  these  are  necessary  to  be  known,  in  order  to 
determine  what  is  the  true  interest  of  any  state  ;  and  without 
that  interest  is  ascertained,  impossible  will  it  be  to  discover, 
whether  a  variety  of  certain  laws  may  be  beneficial  or  hurtful. 
From  gentlemen  whose  private  affairs  compel  them  to  take  care 
of  their  own  household,  and  deprive  them  of  leisure,  these  quali- 
fications are  not  to  be  generally  expected,  whatever  class  of 
men  they  are  enrolled  in. 

Let  .all  these  respective  excellencies  be  united.  Let  the 
supreme  power  be  so  disposed  and  ballanced,  that  the  laws  may 
have  in  view  the  interest  of  the  whole  ;  let  them  be  wisely  and 
consistently  framed  for  that  end,  and  firmly  adhered  to  ;  and  let 
them  be  executed  with  vigour  and  dispatch. 
24 


370  APPENDIX. 

Before  we  proceed  further,  it  must  be  again  considered,  and 
kept  always  in  view,  that  we  are  not  attempting  to  form  a  tem- 
porary constitution,  one  adjusted  only  to  our  present  circum- 
stances. We  wish  for  one  founded  upon  such  principles  as 
will  secure  to  us  freedom  and  happiness,  however  our  circum- 
stances may  vary.  One  that  will  smile  amidst  the  declensions 
of  European  and  Asiatic  empires,  and  survive  the  rude  storms  of 
time.  It  is  not  therefore  to  be  understood,  that  all  the  men  of 
fortune  of  the  present  day,  are  men  of  wisdom  and  learning,  or 
that  they  arc  not.  Nor  that  the  bulk  of  the  people,  the  farmers, 
the  merchants,  the  tradesmen,  and  labourers,  are  all  honest  and 
upright,  with  single  views  to  the  public  good,  or  that  they  are 
not.  In  each  of  the  classes  there  are  undoubtedly  exceptions,  as 
the  rules  laid  down  are  general.  The  proposition  is  only  this. 
That  among  gentlemen  of  education,  fortune  and  leisure,  we 
shall  find  the  largest  number  of  men,  possessed  of  wisdom,  learn- 
ing, and  a  firmness  and  consistency  of  character.  That  among 
the  bulk  of  the  people,  we  shall  find  the  greatest  share  of  politi- 
cal honesty,  probity,  and  a  regard  to  the  interest  of  the  whole,  of 
which  they  compose  the  majority.  That  wisdom  and  firmness 
are  not  sufficient  without  good  intentions,  nor  the  latter  without 
the  former.  The  conclusion  is,  let  the  legislative  body  unite  them 
all.  The  former  are  called  the  excellencies  that  result  from  an 
aristocracy  ;  the  latter,  those  that  result  from  a  democracy. 

The  supreme  power  is  considered  as  including  the  legislative, 
judicial,  and  executive  powers.  The  nature  and  employment  of 
these  several  powers  deserve  a  distinct  attention. 

The  legislative  power  is  employed  in  making  laws,  or  pre- 
scribing such  rules  of  action  to  every  individual  in  the  state,  as 
the  good  of  the  whole  requires,  to  be  conformed  to  by  him  in  his 
conduct  to  the  governors  and  governed,  with  respect  both  to 
their  persons  and  property,  according  to  the  several  relations  he 
stands  in.  "\Vliat  rules  of  action  the  good  of  the  whole  requires, 
can  be  ascertained  only  by  the  majority,  for  a  reason  formerly 
mentioned.  Therefore  the  legislative  power  must  be  so  formed 
and  exerted,  that  in  prescribing  any  rule  of  action,  or,  in  other 
words,  enacting  any  law,  the  majority  must  consent.  This  may 
be  more  evident,  when  the  fundamental  condition  on  which 
every  man  enters  into  society,  is  considered.  No  man  consented 
that  his  natural  alienable  rights  should  be  wantonly  controuled  : 


ESSEX  RESULT.  371 

they  were  controulablc,  only  when  that  controul  should  be  sub- 
servient to  the  good  of  the  whole ;  and  that  subserviency,  from 
the  very  nature  of  government,  can  be  determined  but  by  one 
absolute  judge.  The  minority  cannot  be  that  judge,  because 
then  there  may  be  two  judges  opposed  to  each  other,  so  that  this 
subserviency  remains  undetermined.  Now  the  enacting  of  a 
law,  is  only  the  exercise  of  this  controul  over  the  natural  alien- 
able rights  of  each  member  of  the  state  ;  and  therefore  this  law 
must  have  the  consent  of  the  majority,  or  be  invalid,  as  being 
contrary  to  the  fundamental  condition  of  the  original  social  con- 
tract. In  a  state  of  nature,  every  man  had  the  sovereign  con- 
troul over  his  own  person.  He  might  also  have,  in  that  state,  a 
qualified  property.  Whatever  lands  or  chattels  he  had  acquired 
the  peaceable  possession  of,  were  exclusively  his,  by  right  of 
occupancy  or  possession.  For  while  they  were  unpossessed  he 
had  a  right  to  them  equally  with  any  other  man,  and  therefore 
could  not  be  disturbed  in  his  possession,  without  being  injured ; 
for  no  man  could  lawfully  dispossess  him,  without  having  a  better 
right,  which  no  man  had.  Over  this  qualified  property  every 
man  in  a  state  of  nature  had  also  a  sovereign  controul.  And  in 
entering  into  political  society,  he  surrendered  this  right  of  con- 
troul over  his  person  and  property,  (with  an  exception  to  the 
rights  of  conscience)  to  the  supreme  legislative  power,  to  be 
exercised  by  that  power,  when  the  good  of  the  ichole  demanded  it. 
This  was  all  the  right  he  could  surrender,  being  all  the  alienable 
right  of  which  he  was  possessed.  The  only  objects  of  legislation 
therefore,  are  the  person  and  property  of  the  individuals  which 
compose  the  state.  If  the  law  affects  only  the  persons  of  the 
members,  the  consent  of  a  majority  of  any  members  is  sufficient. 
If  the  law  affects  the  property  only,  the  consent  of  those  who 
hold  a  majority  of  the  property  is  enough.  If  it  affects,  (as  it 
will  very  frequently,  if  not  always,)  both  the  person  and  prop- 
erty, the  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  members,  and  of  those 
members  also  who  hold  a  majority  of  the  property,  is  necessary. 
If  the  consent  of  the  latter  is  not  obtained,  their  interest  is  taken 
from  them  against  their  consent,  and  their  boasted  security  of 
property  is  vanished.  Those  who  make  the  law,  in  this  case 
give  and  grant  what  is  not  theirs.  The  law,  in  it's  princi- 
ples, becomes  a  second  stamp  act.  Lord  Chatham  very  finely 
ridiculed  the  British  house  of  commons  upon  that  principle. 


372  APPENDIX. 

"  You  can  give  and  grant,  said  he,  only  your  own.  Here  you 
give  and  grant,  what  ?  The  property  of  the  Americans."  The 
people  of  the  Massachusetts-Bay  then  thought  his  Lordship's 
ridicule  well  pointed.  And  would  they  be  willing  to  merit  the 
same  ?  Certainly  they  will  agree  in  the  principle,  should  they 
mistake  the  application.  The  laws  of  the  province  of  Massachu- 
setts-Bay adopted  the  same  principle,  and  very  happily  applied 
it.  As  the  votes  of  proprietors  of  common  and  undivided  lands 
in  their  meetings,  can  affect  only  their  property,  therefore  it  is 
enacted,  that  in  ascertaining  the  majority,  the  votes  shall  be  col- 
lected according  to  the  respective  interests  of  the  proprietors. 
If  each  member,  without  regard  to  his  property,  has  equal  influ- 
ence in  legislation  with  any  other,  it  follows,  that  some  members 
enjoy  greater  benefits  and  powers  in  legislation  than  others, 
when  these  benefits  and  powers  are  compared  with  the  rights 
parted  with  to  purchase  them.  For  the  property-holder  parts 
with  the  controul  over  his  person,  as  well  as  he  who  hath  no 
property,  and  the  former  also  parts  with  the  controul  over  his 
property,  of  which  the  latter  is  destitute.  Therefore  to  con- 
stitute a  perfect  law  in  a  free  state,  affecting  the  persons  and 
property  of  the  members,  it  is  necessary  that  the  law  be  for  the 
good  of  the  whole,  which  is  to  be  determined  by  a  majority  of 
the  members,  and  that  majority  should  include  those,  who  possess 
a  major  part  of  the  property  in  the  state. 

The  judicial  power  follows  next  after  the  legislative  power; 
for  it  cannot  act,  until  after  laws  are  prescribed.  Every  wise 
legislator  annexes  a  sanction  to  his  laws,  which  is  most  com- 
monly penal,  (that  is)  a  punishment  either  corporal  or  pecuni- 
ary, to  be  inflicted  on  the  member  Avho  shall  infringe  them.  It 
is  the  part  of  the  judicial  power  (which  in  this  territory  has 
always  been,  and  always  ought  to  be,  a  court  and  jury)  to  ascer- 
tain the  member  who  hath  broken  the  law.  Every  man  is  to 
be  presumed  innocent,  until  the  judicial  power  hath  determined 
him  guilty.  When  that  decision  is  known,  the  law  annexes  the 
punishment,  and  the  offender  is  turned  over  to  the  executive 
arm,  by  whom  it  is  indicted  on  him.  The  judicial  power  hath 
also  to  determine  what  legal  contracts  have  been  broken,  and 
what  member  hath  been  injured  by  a  violation  of  the  law,  to 
consider  the  damages  that  have  been  sustained,  and  to  ascertain 
the  recompense.  The  executive  power  takes  care  that  this 
recompense  is  paid. 


ESSEX  RESULT.  373 

The  executive  power  is  sometimes  divided  into  the  external 
executive,  and  internal  executive.  The  former  comprehends 
war,  peace,  the  sending  and  receiving  ambassadors,  and  what- 
ever concerns  the  transactions  of  the  state  with  any  other 
independent  state.  The  confederation  of  the  United  States  of 
America  hath  lopped  off  this  branch  of  the  executive,  and  placed 
it  in  Congress.  We  have  therefore  only  to  consider  the  internal 
executive  power,  which  is  employed  in  the  peace,  security  and 
protection  of  the  subject  and  his  property,  and  in  the  defence  of 
the  state.  The  executive  power  is  to  marshal  and  command  her 
militia  and  armies  for  her  defence,  to  enforce  the  law,  and  to 
carry  into  execution  all  the  orders  of  the  legislative  powers. 

A  little  attention  to  the  subject  will  convince  us,  that  these 
three  powers  ought  to  be  in  different  hands,  and  independent  of 
one  another,  and  so  ballanced,  and  each  having  that  check  upon 
the  other,  that  their  independence  shall  be  preserved  • —  If  the 
three  powers  are  united,  the  government  will  be  absolute,  whether 
these  powers  arc  in  the  hands  of  one  or  a  large  number.  The 
same  party  will  be  the  legislator,  accuser,  judge  and  execu- 
tioner ;  and  what  probability  Avill  an  accused  person  have  of  an 
acquittal,  however  innocent  he  may  be,  when  Ins  judge  will  be 
also  a  party. 

If  the  legislative  and  judicial  powers  arc  united,  the  maker  of 
the  law  will  also  interpret  it ;  and  the  law  may  then  speak  a 
language,  dictated  by  the  whims,  the  caprice,  or  the  prejudice  of 
the  judge,  with  impunity  to  him  —  And  what  people  are  so 
unhappy  as  those,  whose  laws  are  uncertain.  It  will  also  be  in 
the  breast  of  the  judge,  when  grasping  after  his  prey,  to  make  a 
retrospective  law,  which  shall  bring  the  unhappy  offender  within 
it  ;  and  this  also  he  can  do  with  impunity  —  The  subject  can 
have  no  peaceable  remedy  —  The  judge  will  try  himself,  and  an 
acquittal  is  the  certain  consequence.  lie  has  it  also  in  his 
power  to  enact  any  law,  which  may  shelter  him  from  deserved 
vengeance. 

Should  the  executive  and  legislative  powers  be  united,  mis- 
chiefs the  most  terrible  would  follow.  The  executive  would 
enact  those  laws  it  pleased  to  execute,  and  no  others  —  The 
judicial  power  would  be  set  aside  as  inconvenient  and  tardy  — 
The  security  and  protection  of  the  subject  would  be  a  shadow  — 
The  executive  power  would  make  itself  absolute,  and  the  gov- 


374  APPENDIX. 

eminent  end  in  a  tyranny Lewis  the  eleventh  of  France, 

by  cunning  and  treachery  compleated  the  union  of  the  execu- 
tive and  legislative  powers  of  that  kingdom,  and  upon  that  union 
established  a  system  of  tyranny.  France  was  formerly  under  a 
free  government. 

The  assembly  or  representatives  of  the  united  states  of  Hol- 
land, exercise  the  executive  and  legislative  powers,  and  the 
government  there  is  absolute. 

Should  the  executive  and  judicial  powers  be  united,  the  sub- 
ject would  then  have  no  permanent  security  of  his  person  and 
property.  The  executive  power  would  interpret  the  laws  and 
bend  them  to  his  will ;  and,  as  he  is  the  judge,  he  may  leap  over 
them  by  artful  constructions,  and  gratify,  with  impunity,  the 
most  rapacious  passions.  Perhaps  no  cause  in  any  state  has  con- 
tributed more  to  promote  internal  convulsions,  and  to  stain  the 
scaffold  with  it's  best  blood,  than  this  unhappy  union.  And  it  is 
an  union  which  the  executive  power  in  all  states,  hath  attempted 
to  form  :  if  that  could  not  be  compassed,  to  make  the  judicial 
power  dependent  upon  it.  Indeed  the  dependence  of  any  of 
these  powers  upon  either  of  the  other?,  which  in  all  states  has 
always  been  attempted  by  one  or  the  other  of  them,  has  so  often 
been  productive  of  such  calamities,  and  of  the  shedding  of  such 
oceans  of  blood,  that  the  page  of  history  seems  to  be  one  con- 
tinued tale  of  human  wretchedness. 

The  following  principles  now  seem  to  be  established. 

1.  That  the  supreme  power  is  limited,  and  cannot  controul  the 
unalicnable  rights  of  mankind,  nor  resume  the  equivalent  (that 
is,  the  security  of  person  and   property)  which  each  individual 
receives,  as  a  consideration  for  the  alienable  rights  he  parted 
with  in  entering  into  political  society. 

2.  That  these   unalienable  rights,  and  this  equivalent,  are  to 
be  clearly  defined    and   ascertained  in   a   BILL  or  HIGIITS, 
previous  to  the  ratification  of  any  constitution. 

3.  That  the  supreme  power  should  be  so  formed  and  modelled, 
as  to  exert  the  greatest  possible  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness. 

4.  That  the  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive  powers,  are  to 
be  lodged  in  different  hands,  that  each  branch  is  to  be  indepen- 
dent, and  further,  to  be  so  ballanced,  and  be  able  to  exert  such 
checks  upon  the  others,  as  will  preserve  it  from  a  dependence 
on,  or  an  union  with  them. 


ESSEX  RESULT.  375 

5.  That  government  can  exert  the  greatest  power  when  it's 
supreme  authority  is  vested  in  the  hands  of  one  or  a  few. 

G.  That  the  laws  will  be  made  with  the  greatest  wisdom,  and 
best  intentions,  when  men,  of  all  the  several  classes  in  the  state 
concur  in  the  enacting  of  them. 

7.  That  a  government  which  is  so  constituted,  that  it  cannot 
afford  a  degree  of  political  liberty  nearly  equal  to  all  it's  mem- 
bers, is  not  founded  upon  principles  of  freedom  and  justice,  and 
where  any  member  enjoys  no  degree  of  political  liberty,  the 
government,  so  far  as  it  respects  him,  is  a  tyranny,  for  he  is  con- 
troulcd  by  laws  to  which  he  has  never  consented. 

8.  That  the  legislative  power  of  a  state  hath  no  authority  to 
controul  the  natural  rights  of  any  of  it's  members,  unless  the 
good  of  the  whole  requires  it. 

9.  That  a  majority  of  the  state  is  the  only  judge  when  the 
general  good  does  require  it. 

10.  That  where  the  legislative  power  of  the  state  is  so  formed, 
that  a  law  may  be  enacted  by  the  minority,  each  member  of  the 
state  does  not  enjoy  political  liberty.     And 

11.  That  in  a  free  government,  a  law  affecting  the  person  and 
property  of  it's  members,  is  not  valid,  unless  it  has  the  consent 
of  a  majority  of  the  members,  which  majority  should  include 
those,  who  hold  a  major  part  of  the  property  in  the  state. 

It  may  be  necessary  to  proceed  further,  and  notice  some  par- 
ticular principles,  which  should  be  attended  to  in  forming  the 
three  several  powers  in  a  free  republican  government. 

The  first  important  branch  that  comes  under  our  considera- 
tion, is  the  legislative  body.  Was  the  number  of  the  people  so 
small,  that  the  whole  could  meet  together  without  inconvenience, 
the  opinion  of  the  majority  would  be  more  easily  known.  But, 
besides  the  inconvenience  of  assembling  such  numbers,  no  great 
advantages  could  follow.  Sixty  thousand  people  could  not  dis- 
cuss with  candor,  and  determine  with  deliberation.  Tumults, 
riots,  and  murder  would  be  the  result.  But  the  impracticability 
of  forming  such  an  assembly,  renders  it  needless  to  make  any 
further  observations.  The  opinions  and  consent  of  the  majority 
must  be  collected  from  persons,  delegated  by  every  freeman  of 
the  state  for  that  purpose.  Every  freeman,  who  hath  sufficient 
discretion,  should  have  a  voice  in  the  election  of  his  legislators. 
To  speak  with  precision,  in  every  free  state  where  the  power  of 


376  APPENDIX. 

legislation  is  lodged  in  the  hands  of  one  or  more  bodies  of  repre- 
sentatives elected  for  that  purpose,  the  person  of  every  member 
of  the  state,  and  all  the  property  in  it,  ought  to  be  represented, 
because  they  are  objects  of  legislation.  All  the  members  of  the 
state  are  qualified  to  make  the  election,  unless  they  have  not 
sufficient  discretion,  or  are  so  situated  as  to  have  no  wills  of  their 
own ;  persons  not  twenty  one  years  old  are  deemed  of  the  former 
class,  from  their  want  of  years  and  experience.  The  municipal 
law  of  this  country  will  not  trust  them  with  the  disposition  of 
their  lands,  and  consigns  them  to  the  care  of  their  parents  or 
guardians.  Women  what  age  soever  they  are  of,  are  also  con- 
sidered as  not  having  a  sufficient  acquired  discretion  ;  not  from  a 
deficiency  in  their  mental  powers,  but  from  the  natural  tender- 
ness and  delicacy  of  their  minds,  their  retired  mode  of  life,  and 
various  domestic  duties.  These  concurring,  prevent  that  pro- 
miscuous intercourse  with  the  world,  which  is  necessary  to  qual- 
ify them  for  electors.  Slaves  are  of  the  latter  class  and  have  no 
wills.  But  are  slaves  members  of  a  free  government  ?  We  feel 
the  absurdity,  and  would  to  God,  the  situation  of  America  and 
the  tempers  of  it's  inhabitants  were  such,  that  the  slave-holder 
could  not  be  found  in  the  land. 

The  rights  of  representation  should  be  so  equally  and  im- 
partially distributed,  that  the  representatives  should  have  the 
same  views,  and  interests  with  the  people  at  large.  They  should 
think,  feel,  and  act  like  them,  and  in  fine,  should  be  an  exact 
miniature  of  their  constituents.  They  should  be  (if  we  may  use 
the  expression)  the  whole  body  politic,  with  all  it's  property, 
rights,  and  priviledges,  reduced  to  a  smaller  scale,  every  part 
being  diminished  in  just  proportion.  To  pursue  the  metaphor.  If 
in  adjusting  the  representation  of  freemen,  any  ten  are  reduced 
into  one,  all  the  other  tens  should  be  alike  reduced :  or  if  any 
hundred  should  be  reduced  to  one,  all  the  other  hundreds  should 
have  just  the  same;  reduction.  The  representation  ought  also  to 
be  so  adjusted,  that  it  should  be  the  interest  of  the  representa- 
tives at  all  times,  to  do  justice,  therefore  equal  interest  among 
the  people,  should  have  equal  interest  among  the  body  of  repre- 
sentatives. The  majority  of  the  representatives  should  also  rep- 
resent a  majority  of  the  people,  and  the  legislative  body  should 
be  so  constructed,  that  every  law  affecting  property,  should  have 
the  consent  of  those  who  hold  a  majority  of  the  property.  The 


ESSEX  RESULT.  377 

law  would  then  be  determined  to  be  for  the  good  of  the  whole  by 
the  proper  judge,  the  majority ,-and  the  necessary  consent  thereto 
would  be  obtained:  and  all  the  members  of  the  State  would 
enjoy  political  liberty,  and  an  equal  degree  of  it.  If  the  scale 
to  which  the  body  politic  is  to  be  reduced,  is  but  a  little  smaller 
than  the  original,  or,  in  other  words,  if  a  small  number  of  free- 
men should  be  reduced  to  one,  that  is,  send  one  representative, 
the  number  of  representatives  would  be  too  large  for  the  public 
good.  The  expences  of  government  would  be  enormous.  The 
body  would  be  too  unwieldy  to  deliberate  with  candor  and  cool- 
ness. The  variety  of  opinions  and  oppositions  would  irritate  the 
passions.  Parties  would  be  formed  and  factions  engendered. 
The  members  would  list  under  the  banners  of  their  respective 
leaders  :  address  and  intrigue  Avould  conduct  the  debates,  and 
the  result  would  tend  only  to  promote  the  ambition  or  interest  of 
a  particular  party.  Such  has  always  been  in  some  degree,  the 
course  and  event  of  debates  instituted  and  managed  by  a  large 
multitude. 

For  these  reasons,  some  foreign  politicians  have  laid  it  down 
as  a  rule,  that  no  body  of  men  larger  than  a  hundred,  would 
transact  business  well :  and  Lord  Chesterfield  called  the  British 
house  of  commons  a  mere  mob,  because  of  the  number  of  men 
which  composed  it. 

Elections  ought  also  to  be  free.  No  bribery,  corruption,  or 
undue  influence  should  have  place.  They  stifle  the  free  voice  of 
the  people,  corrupt  their  morals,  and  introduce  a  degeneracy  of 
manners,  a  supineness  of  temper,  and  an  inattention  to  their 
liberties,  which  pave  the  road  for  the  approach  of  tyranny,  in  all 
it's  frightful  forms. 

The  man  who  buys  an  elector  by  his  bribes,  will  sell  him 
again,  and  reap  a  profit  from  the  bargain  ;  and  he  thereby 
becomes  a  dangerous  member  of  society.  The  legislative  body 
will  hold  the  purse  strings,  and  men  will  struggle  for  a  place  in 
that  body  to  acquire  a  share  of  the  public  wealth.  It  has  always 
been  the  case.  Bribery  will  be  attempted,  and  the  laws  will  not 
prevent  it.  All  states  have  enacted  severe  laws  against  it,  and 
they  have  been  ineffectual.  The  defect  was  in  their  forms  of 
government.  They  were  not  so  contrived,  as  to  prevent  the 
practicability  of  it.  If  a  small  corporation  can  place  a  man  in 
the  legislative  body,  to  bribe  will  be  easy  and  cheap.  To  bribe 


378  APPENDIX. 

a  large  corporation  would  be  difficult  and  expensive,  if  practi- 
cable. In  Great-Britain,  the  representatives  of  their  counties 
and  great  cities  are  freely  elected.  To  bribe  the  electors  there, 
is  impracticable :  and  their  representatives  are  the  most  upright 
and  able  statesmen  in  parliament.  The  small  boroughs  are 
bought  by  the  ministry  and  opulent  men  ;  and  their  representa- 
tives are  the  mere  tools  of  administration  or  faction.  Let  us 
take  warning. 

A  further  check  upon  bribery  is,  when  the  corrupter  of  a 
people  knows  not  the  electors.  If  delegates  were  first  appointed 
by  a  number  of  corporations,  who  at  a  short  day  were  to  elect 
their  representatives,  these  blood-hounds  in  a  state  would  be  at 
fault.  They  would  not  scent  their  game.  Besides,  the  repre- 
sentatives would  probably  be  much  better  men  —  they  would  be 
double  refined. 

But  it  may  be  said,  the  virtuous  American  would  blast  with 
indignation  the  man,  who  should  proffer  him  a  bribe.  Let  it  now 
be  admitted  as  a  fact.  We  ask,  will  that  always  be  the  case  ? 
The  most  virtuous  states  have  become  vicious.  The  morals  of 
all  people,  in  all  ages,  have  been  shockingly  corrupted.  The 
rigidly  virtuous  Spartans,  who  banished  the  use  of  gold  and 
silver,  who  gloried  in  their  poverty  for  centuries,  at  last  fell  a 
prey  to  luxury  and  corruption.  The  Romans,  whose  intense 
love  to  their  country  astonishes  a  modern  patriot,  who  fought 
the  battles  of  the  republic  for  three  hundred  years  without  pay, 
and  who,  as  volunteers,  extended  her  empire  over  Italy,  were 
at  last  dissolved  in  luxury,  courted  the  hand  of  bribery,  and 
finally  sold  themselves  as  slaves,  and  prostrated  their  country  to 
tyrants  the  most  ignominious  and  brutal.  Shall  we  alone  boast 
an  exemption  from  the  general  fate  of  mankind  ?  Are  our 
private  and  political  virtues  to  be  transmitted  untainted  from 
generation  to  generation,  through  a  course  of  ages?  Have  we 
not  already  degenerated  from  the  pure  morals  and  disinterested 
patriotism  of  our  ancestors  '?  And  are  not  our  manners  be- 
coming soft  and  luxurious,  and  have  not  our  vices  began  to 
shoot  V  Would  one  venture  to  prophecy,  that  in  a  century  from 
this  period,  we  shall  be  a  corrupt  luxurious  people,  perhaps  the 
close  of  that  century  would  stamp  this  prophecy  with  the  title  of 
history. 

The  rights  of  representation  should  also  be  held  sacred  and 


ESSEX  RESULT.  379 

inviolable,  and  for  this  purpose,  representation  should  be  fixed 
upon  known  and  -easy  principles  ;  and  the  constitution  should 
make  provision,  that  recourse  should  constantly  be  had  to  those 
principles  within  a  very  small  period  of  years,  to  rectify  the 
errors  that  will  creep  in  through  lapse  of  time,  or  alteration  of 
situations.  The  want  of  fixed  principles  of  government,  and  a 
stated  regular  recourse  to  them,  have  produced  the  dissolution 
of  all  states,  whose  constitutions  have  been  transmitted  to  us  by 
history. 

But  the  legislative  power  must  not  be  trusted  with  one  assem- 
bly. A  single  assembly  is  frequently  influenced  by  the  vices, 
follies,  passions,  and  prejudices  of  an  individual.  It  is  liable  to 
be  avaricious,  and  to  exempt  itself  from  the  burdens  it  lays  upon 
it's  constituents.  It  is  subject  to  ambition,  and  after  a  series  of 
years,  will  be  prompted  to  vote  itself  perpetual.  The  long  par- 
liament in  England  voted  itself  perpetual,  and  thereby,  for  a 
time,  destroyed  the  political  liberty  of  the  subject.  Holland 
was  governed  by  one  representative  assembly  annually  elected. 
They  afterwards  voted  themselves  from  annual  to  septennial ; 
then  for  life  ;  and  finally  exerted  the  power  of  filling  up  all 
vacancies,  without  application  to  their  constituents.  The  gov- 
ernment of  Holland  is  now  a  tyranny  though  a  republic. 

The  result  of  a  single  assembly  will  be  hasty  and  indigested, 
and  their  judgments  frequently  absurd  and  inconsistent.  There 
must  be  a  second  body  to  revise  with  coolness  and  wisdom,  and 
to  controul  with  firmness,  independent  upon  the  first,  either  for 
their  creation,  or  existence.  Yet  the  first  must  retain  a  right  to 
a  similar  revision  and  controul  over  the  second. 

Let  us  now  ascertain  some  particular  principles  which  should 
be  attended  to,  in  forming  the  executive  power. 

When  we  recollect  the  nature  and  empldymcnt  of  this  power, 
we  find  that  it  ought  to  be  conducted  with  vigour  and  dispatch. 
It  should  be  able  to  execute  the  laws  without  opposition,  and  to 
controul  all  the  turbulent  spirits  in  the  state,  who  should  infringe 
them.  If  the  laws  are  not  obeyed,  the  legislative  power  is  vain, 
and  the  judicial  is  mere  pageantry.  As  these  laws,  with  their 
several  sanctions,  arc  the  only  securities  of  person  and  property, 
the  members  of  the  state  can  confide  in,  if  they  lie  dormant 
through  failure  of  execution,  violence  and  oppression  will  erect 
their  heads,  and  stalk  unmolested  through  the  land.  The  judicial 


380  APPENDIX. 

power  ought  to  discriminate  the  offender,  as  soon  after  the  com- 
mission of  the  offence,  as  an  impartial  trial  will  admit ;  and  the 
executive  arm  to  inflict  the  punishment  immediately  after  the 
criminal  is  ascertained.  This  would  have  an  happy  tendency  to 
prevent  crimes,  as  the  commission  of  them  would  .awaken  the 
attendant  idea  of  punishment ;  and  the  hope  of  an  escape,  which 
is  often  an  inducement,  would  be  cut  off.  The  executive  power 
ought  therefore  in  these  cases,  to  be  exerted  with  union,  vigour, 
and  dispatch.  Another  duty  of  that  power  is  to  arrest  offenders, 
to  bring  them  to  trial.  This  cannot  often  be  done,  unless  secrecy 
and  expedition  are  used.  The  want  of  these  two  requisites,  will 
be  more  especially  inconvenient  in  repressing  treasons,  and  those 
more  enormous  offences  which  strike  at  the  happiness,  if  not 
existence  of  the  whole.  Offenders  of  these  classes  do  not  act 
alone.  Some  number  is  necessary  to  the  compleating  of  the 
crime.  Cabals  are  formed  with  art,  and  secrecy  presides  over 
their  councils ;  while  measures  the  most  fatal  are  the  result,  to 
be  executed  by  desperation.  On  these  men  the  thunder  of  the 
state  should  be  hurled  with  rapidity  ;  for  if  they  hear  it  roll  at  a 
distance,  their  danger  is  over.  AYhen  they  gain  intelligence  of 
the  process,  they  abscond,  and  wait  a  more  favourable  oppor- 
tunity. If  that  is  attended  with  difficulty,  they  destroy  all  the 
evidence  of  their  guilt,  brave  government,  and  deride  the  justice 
and  power  of  the  state. 

It  has  been  observed  likewise,  that  the  executive  power  is  to 
act  as  Captain-General,  to  marshal  the  militia  and  armies  of  the 
state,  and,  for  her  defence,  to  lead  them  on  to  battle.  These 
armies  should  always  be  composed  of  the  militia  or  body  of  the 
people.  Standing  armies  are  a  tremendous  curse  to  a  state.  In 
all  periods  in  which  they  have  existed,  they  have  been  the 
scourge  of  mankind.  In  this  department,  union,  vigour,  secrecy, 
and  dispatch  are  more  peculiarly  necessary.  Was  one  to  pro- 
pose a  body  of  militia,  over  which  two  Generals,  with  equal 
authority,  should  have  the  command,  he  would  be  laughed  at. 
Should  one  pretend,  that  the  General  should  have  no  controul 
over  his  subordinate  officers,  either  to  remove  them  or  to  supplv 
their  posts,  he  would  be,  pitied  for  his  ignorance  of  the  subject 
lie  was  discussing.  It  is  obviously  necessary,  that  the  man  who 
calls  the  militia  to  action,  and  assumes  the  military  controul  over 
them  in  the  field,  should  previously  know  the  number  of  his 


ESSEX  RESULT.  381 

men,  their  equipments  and  residence,  and  the  talents  and  tem- 
pers of  the  several  ranks  of  officers,  and  their  respective  depart- 
ments in  the  state,  that  he  may  wisely  determine  to  whom 
the  necessary  orders  are  to  be  issued.  Ilegular  and  particular 
returns  of  these  requisites  should  be  frequently  made.  Let  it  be 
enquired,  are  these  returns  to  be  made  only  to  the  legislative 
body,  or  a  branch  of  it,  which  necessarily  moves  slow  ?  —  Is  the 
General  to  go  to  them  for  information  ?  intreat  them  to  remove 
an  improper  officer,  and  give  him  another  they  shall  chuse  ?  and 
in  fine  is  he  to  supplicate  his  orders  from  them,  and  constantly 
walk  where  their  leading-strings  shall  direct  his  steps  ?  If  so, 
where  arc  the  power  and  force  of  the  militia  —  where  the  union 

—  where  the  dispatch  and  profound  secrecy  ?     Or  shall  these 
returns  be  made  to  him  ?  —  when  he  may  see  with  his  own  eyes 

—  be  his  own  judge  of  the  merit,  or  demerit  of  his  officers  — 
discern  their  various  talents  and  qualifications,  and  employ  them 
as  the  service  and  defence  of  his  country  demand.     Besides,  the 
legislative  body  or  a  branch  of  it  is  local  —  they  cannot  therefore 
personally  inform  themselves  of  these  facts,  but  must  judge  upon 
trust.     The   General's  opinion  will   be   founded   upon   his  own 
observations  —  the   officers   and  privates  of  the  militia  will   act 
under  his  eye  :  and,  if  he  has  it  in  his  power  immediately  to  pro- 
mote or  disgrace  them,  they  will  be  induced  to  noble  exertions. 
It  may  further  be  observed  here,  that  if  the  subordinate  civil  or 
military  executive  officers  arc  appointed  by  the  legislative  body 
or  a  branch  of  it,  the  former  will  become  dependent  upon  the 
latter,  and  the  necessary  independence  of  either  the  legislative 
or  executive  powers  upon  the  other  is  wanting.     The  legislative 
power  will  have  that  undue  influence  over  the  executive  which 
will  amount  to  a  controul,  for  the  latter  will  be  their  creatures, 
and  will  fear  their  creators. 

One  further  observation  may  be  pertinent.  Such  is  the  tem- 
per of  mankind,  that  each  man  will  be  too  liable  to  introduce 
his  own  friends  and  connexions  into  office,  without  regarding  the 
public  interest.  If  one  man  or  a  small  number  appoint,  their 
connexions  will  probably  be  introduced.  If  a  large  number 
appoint,  all  their  connexions  will  receive  the  same  favour.  The 
smaller  the  number  appointing,  the  more  contracted  are  their 
connexions,  and  for  that  reason,  there  will  be  a  greater  proba- 
bility of  better  officers,  as  the  connexions  of  one  man  or  a  very 


382  APPENDIX. 

small  number  can  fill  but  a  very  few  of  the  offices.  When  a 
small  number  of  men  have  the  power  of  appointment,  or  the 
management  in  any  particular  department,  their  conduct  is 
accurately  noticed.  On  any  miscarriage  or  imprudence  the 
public  resentment  lies  with  weight.  All  the  eyes  of  the  people 
are  converted  to  a  point,  and  produce  that  attention  to  their 
censure,  and  that  fear  of  misbehaviour,  which  are  the  greatest 
security  the  state  can  have,  of  the  wisdom  and  prudence  of  its 
servants.  This  observation  will  strike  us,  when  we  recollect 
that  many  a  man  will  zealously  promote  an  affair  in  a  public 
assembly,  of  which  he  is  but  one  of  a  large  number,  yet,  at  the 
same  time,  he  would  blush  to  be  thought  the  sole  author  of  it. 
For  all  these  reasons,  the  supreme  executive  power  should  be 
rested  in  the  hands  of  one  or  of  a  small  number,  who  should  have 
the  appointment  of  all  subordinate  executive  officers.  Should 
the  supreme  executive  officer  be  elected  by  the  legislative  body, 
there  would  be  a  dependence  of  the  executive  power  upon  the 
legislative.  Should  he  be  elected  by  the  judicial  body,  there 
also  would  be  a  dependence.  The  people  at  large  must  there- 
fore designate  the  person,  to  whom  they  will  delegate  this  power. 
And  upon  the  people,  there  ought  to  be  a  dependence  of  all  the 
powers  in  government,  for  all  the  oflicers  in  the  state  are  but 
the  servants  of  the  people. 

"We  have  not  noticed  the  navy-department.  The  conducting 
of  that  department  is  indisputably  in  the  supreme  executive 
power :  and  we  suppose,  that  all  the  observations  respecting  the 
Captain-General,  apply  to  the  Admiral. 

We  are  next  to  fix  upon  some  general  rules  which  should 
govern  us  in  forming  the  judicial  power.  This  power  is  to  be 
independent  upon  the  executive  and  legislative.  The  judicial 
power  should  be  a  court  and  jury,  or  as  they  arc  commonly 
called,  the  Judges  and  jury.  The  jury  are  the  peers  or  equals 
of  every  man,  and  are  to  try  all  facts.  The  province  of  the 
Judges  is  to  preside  in  and  regulate  all  trials,  and  ascertain  the 
law.  We  shall  only  consider  the  appointment  of  the  Judges. 
The  same  power  which  appoints  them,  ought  not  to  have  the 
power  of  removing  them,  not  even  for  misbehavior.  That  con- 
duct only  would  then  be  deemed  misbehavior  which  was  opposed 
to  the  will  of  the  power  removing.  A  removal  in  this  case  for 
proper  reasons,  would  not  be  often  attainable :  for  to  remove  a 


ESSEX  RESULT.  383 

man  from  an  office,  because  he  is  not  properly  qualified  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  it,  is  a  severe  censure  upon  that  man  or 
body  of  men  who  appointed  him  —  and  mankind  do  not  love  to 
censure  themselves.  Whoever  appoints  the  judges,  they  ought 
not  to  be  removable  at  pleasure,  for  they  will  then  feel  a  de- 
pendence upon  that  man  or  body  of  men  who  hath  the  power 
of  removal.  Nor  ought  they  to  be  dependent  upon  either  the 
executive  or  legislative  power  for  their  salaries;  for  if  they  are, 
that  power  on  whom  they  are  thus  dependent,  can  starve  them 
into  a  compliance.  One  of  these  two  powers  should  appoint,  and 
the  other  remove.  The  legislative  will  not  probably  appoint  so 
good  men  as  the  executive,  for  reasons  formerly  mentioned.  The 
former  are  composed  of  a  large  body  of  men  who  have  a  numer- 
ous train  of  friends  and  connexions,  and  they  do  not  hazard  their 
reputations,  which  the  executive  will.  It  has  often  been  men- 
tioned that  where  a  large  body  of  men  are  responsible  for 
any  measures,  a  regard  to  their  reputations,  and  to  the  public 
opinion,  will  not  prompt  them  to  use  that  care  and  precaution, 
which  such  regard  will  prompt  one  or  a  few  to  make  use  of. 
Let  one  more  observation  be  now  introduced  to  confirm  it. 
Every  man  has  some  friends  and  dependents  who  will  endeavor 
to  snatch  him  from  the  public  hatred.  One  mau  has  but  a  few 
comparatively,  they  are  not  numerous  enough  to  protect  him, 
and  he  falls  a  victim  to  his  own  misconduct.  When  measures 
are  conducted  by  a  large  number,  their  friends  and  connexions 
are  numerous  and  noisy  —  they  are  dispersed  through  the  State 
—  their  clamors  stifle  the  execrations  of  the  people,  whose  groans 
cannot  even  be  heard.  But  to  resume,  neither  will  the  execu- 
tive body  be  the  most  proper  judge  when  to  remove.  If  this 
body  is  judge,  it  must  also  be  the  accuser,  or  the  legislative  body, 
or  a  branch  of  it,  must  be  —  If  the  executive  body  complains,  it 
will  be  both  accuser  and  judge  —  If  the  complaint  is  preferred 
by  the  legislative  body,  or  a  branch  of  it,  when  the  judges  are 
appointed  by  the  legislative  body,  then  a  body  of  men  who  were 
concerned  in  the  appointment,  must  in  most  cases  complain  of 
the  impropriety  of  their  own  appointment.  Let  therefore  the 
judges  be  appointed  by  the  executive  body  —  let  their  salaries 
be  independent  —  and  let  them  hold  their  places  during  good 
behaviour  —  Let  their  misbehaviour  be  determinable  by  the 
legislative  body  —  Let  one  branch  thereof  impeach,  and  the 


384  APPENDIX. 

other  judge.  Upon  these  principles  the  judicial  body  will  be 
independent  so  long  as  they  behave  well  and  a  proper  court  is 
appointed  to  ascertain  their  mal-conduct. 

The  Committee  afterwards  proceeded  to  consider  the  Con- 
stitution framed  by  the  Convention  of  this  State.  They  have 
examined  that  Constitution  with  all  the  care  the  shortness  of  the 
time  would  admit.  And  they  are  compelled,  though  reluctantly 
to  say,  that  some  of  the  principles  upon  which  it  is  founded, 
appeared  to  them  inconsonant,  not  only  to  the  natural  rights  of 
mankind,  but  to  the  fundamental  condition  of  the  original  social 
contract,  and  the  principles  of  a  free  republican  government. 
In  that  form  of  government  the  governor  appears  to  be  the 
supreme  executive  officer,  and  the  legislative  power  is  in  an 
house  of  representatives  and  senate.  It  may  be  necessary  to 
descend  to  a  more  particular  consideration  of  the  several  articles 
of  that  constitution. 

The  second  article  thereof  appears  exceptionable  upon  the 
principles  we  have  already  attempted  to  establish,  because  the 
supreme  executive  officer  hath  a  seat  and  A'oice  in  one  branch  of 
the  legislative  body,  and  is  assisting  in  originating  and  framing 
the  laws,  the  Governor  being  entitled  to  a  scat  and  voice  in  the 
Senate,  and  to  preside  in  it,  and  may  thereby  have  that  influ- 
ence in  the  legislative  body,  which  the  supreme  executive  officer 
ought  not  to  have. 

The  third  article  among  other  things,  ascertains  the  quali- 
fications of  the  Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor,  Senators  and 
Representatives  respecting  property — The  estate  sufficient  to 
qualify  a  man  for  Governor  is  so  small,  it  is  hardly  any  qualifi- 
cation at  all.  Further,  the  method  of  ascertaining  the  value  of 
the  estates  of  the  officers  aforesaid  is  vague  and  uncertain  as  it 
depends  upon  the  nature  and  quantity  of  the  currency,  and  the 
encrease  of  property,  and  not  upon  any  fixed  principles.  This 
article  therefore  appears  to  be  exceptionable. 

The  sixth  article  regulates  the  election  of  representatives. 
So  many  objections  present  themselves  to  this  article,  we  are 
at  a  loss  which  first  to  mention.  The  representation  is  grossly 
unequal,  and  it  is  flagrantly  unjust.  It  violates  the  fundamental 
principle,  of  the  original  social  contract,  and  introduces  an  un- 
wieldy and  expensive  house.  Representation  ought  to  be  equal 
upon  the  principles  formerly  mentioned.  By  this  article  any 


ESSEX  RESULT.  385 

corporation,  however  small,  may  send  one  representative,  while 
no  corporation  can  send  more  than  one,  unless  it  has  three  hun- 
dred freemen.  Twenty  corporations  (of  three  hundred  freemen 
in  each)  containing  in  the  whole  six  thousand  freemen,  may  send 
forty  representatives,  when  one  corporation,  which  shall  contain 
six  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty,  can  send  but  nineteen. 
One  third  of  the  state  may  send  a  majority  of  the  representa- 
tives, and  all  the  laAvs  may  be  enacted  by  a  minority  —  Do  all 
the  members  of  the  state  then,  enjoy  political  liberty  ?  Will 
they  not  be  controuled  by  laws  enacted  against  their  consent  ? 
When  we  go  further  and  find,  that  sixty  members  make  an 
house,  and  that  the  concurrence  of  thirty  one  (which  is  about 
one  twelfth  of  what  may  be  the  present  number  of  representa- 
tives) is  sufficient  to  bind  the  persons  and  properties  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  State,  we  stand  amazed,  and  are  sorry  that  any  well 
disposed  Americans  were  so  inattentive  to  the  consequences  of 
such  an  arrangement. 

The  number  of  representatives  is  too  large  to  debate  with  cool- 
ness and  deliberation,  the  public  business  will  be  protracted  to 
an  undue  length  and  the  pay  of  the  house  is  enormous.  As  the 
number  of  freemen  in  the  state  encreases,  these  inconveniences 
will  encrcasc ;  and  in  a  century,  the  house  of  representatives 
will,  from  their  numbers,  be  a  mere  mob.  Observations  upon 
this  article  croud  upon  us,  but  we  will  dismiss  it,  with  wishing 
that  the  mode  of  representation  there  proposed,  may  be  candidly 
compared  with  the  principles  which  have  been  already  men- 
tioned in  the  course  of  our  observations  upon  the  legislative 
power,  and  upon  representation  in  a  free  republic. 

The  ninth  article  regulates  the  election  of  Senators,  which  we 
think  exceptionable.  As  the  Senators  for  each  district  will  be 
elected  by  all  the  freemen  in  the  state  properly  qualified,  a  trust 
is  reposed  in  the  people  which  they  are  unequal  to.  The  free- 
men in  the  late  province  of  Main,  are  to  give  in  their  votes  for 
senators  in  the  western  district,  and  so,  on  the  contrary.  Is  it 
supposeable  that  the  freemen  in  the  county  of  Lincoln  can  judge 
of  the  political  merits  of  a  senator  in  Berkshire  ?  Must  not  the 
several  corporations  in  the  state,  in  a  great  measure  depend 
upon  their  representatives  for  information  ?  And  will  not  the 
house  of  representatives  in  fact  chuse  the  senators  ?  That  in- 
dependence of  the  senate  upon  the  house,  which  the  constitution 
25 


386  APPENDIX. 

seems  to  have  intended,  is  visionary,  and  the  benefits  which 
were  expected  to  result  from  a  senate,  as  one  distinct  branch  of 
the  legislative  body,  will  not  be  discoverable. 

The  tenth  article  prescribes  the  method  in  which  the  Gov- 
ernor is  to  be  elected.  This  method  is  open  to,  and  will  intro- 
duce bribery  and  corruption,  and  also  originate  parties  and 
factions  in  the  state.  The  Governor  of  Rhode-Island  was  for- 
merly elected  in  this  manner,  and  we  all  know  how  long  a  late 
Governor  there,  procured  his  re-election  by  methods  the  most 
unjustifiable.  Bribery  was  attempted  in  an  open  and  flagrant 
manner. 

The  thirteenth  article  ascertains  the  authority  of  the  general 
court,  and  by  that  article  we  find  their  power  is  limited  only  by 
the  several  articles  of  the  constitution.  We  do  not  find  that  the 
rights  of  conscience  are  ascertained  and  defined,  unless  they  may 
be  thought  to  be  in  the  thirty  fourth  article.  That  article  we 
conceive  to  be  expressed  in  very  loose  and  uncertain  terms. 
What  is  a  religious  profession  and  worship  of  God,  has  been 
disputed  for  sixteen  hundred  years,  and  the  various  sects  of 
Christians  have  not  yet  settled  the  dispute.  What  is  a  free  exer- 
cise and  enjoyment  of  religious  worship  has  been,  and  still  is,  a 
subject  of  much  altercation.  And  this  free  exercise  and  enjoy- 
ment is  said  to  be  allowed  to  the  protestants  of  this  state  by  the 
constitution,  when  we  suppose  it  to  be  an  unalienable  right  of 
all  mankind,  which  no  human  power  can  wrest  from  them.  We 
do  not  find  any  bill  of  rights  either  accompanying  the  constitu- 
tion, or  interwoven  with  it,  and  no  attempt  is  made  to  define  and 
secure  that  protection  of  the  person  and  property  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  state,  which  the  legislative  and  executive  bodies 
cannot  withhold,  unless  the  general  words  of  confirming  the  right 
to  trial  by  jury,  should  be  considered  as  such  definition  and 
security.  We  think  a  bill  of  rights  ascertaining  and  clearly 
describing  the  rights  of  conscience,  and  that  security  of  person 
and  property,  the  supreme  power  of  the  state  is  Ixnmd  to  afford 
to  all  the  members  thereof,  ought  to  be.fully  ratified,  before,  or 
at  the  same  time  with,  the  establishment  of  any  constitution. 

The  fifteenth  article  fixes  the.  number  which  shall  constitute  a 
quorum  in  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives  —  We  think 
these  numbers  much  too  small  —  This  constitution  will  imme- 
diately introduce  about  three  hundred  and  sixty  members  into 


ESSEX  RESULT.  387 

the  house.  If  sixty  make  a  quorum,  the  house  may  totally 
change  its  members  six  different  times  ;  and  it  probably  will 
very  often  in  the  course  of  a  long  session,  be  composed  of  such  a 
variety  of  members,  as  will  retard  the  public  business,  and  intro- 
duce confusion  in  the  debates,  and  inconsistency  in  the  result. 
Besides  the  number  of  members,  whose  concurrence  is  necessary 
to  enact  a  law,  is  so  small,  that  the  subjects  of  the  state  will  have 
no  security,  that  the  laws  which  are  to  controul  their  natural 
rights,  have  the  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  freemen.  The  same 
reasoning  applies  to  the  senate,  though  not  so  strikingly,  as 
a  quorum  of  that  body  must  consist  of  nearly  a  third  of  the 
senatoi's. 

The  eighteenth  article  describes  the  several  powers  of  the 
Governor  or  the  supreme  executive  officer.  We  find  in  com- 
paring the  several  articles  of  the  constitution,  that  the  senate  are 
the  only  court  to  try  impeachments.  We  also  conceive  that 
every  officer  in  the  state  ought  to  be  amenable  to  such  court. 
We  think  therefore  that  the  members  of  that  court  ought  never 
to  be  advisory  to  any  officer  in  the  state.  If  their  advice  is  the 
result  of  inattention  or  corruption,  they  cannot  be  brought  to 
punishment  by  impeachment,  as  they  will  be  their  own  judges. 
Neither  will  the  officer  who  pursues  their  advice  be  often,  if 
ever,  punishable,  for  a  similar  reason.  To  condemn  this  officer 
will  be  to  reprobate  their  own  advice  — -  consequently  a  proper 
body  is  not  formed  to  advise  the  Governor,  when  a  sudden 
emergency  may  render  advice  expedient :  for  the  senate  advise, 
and  are  the  court  to  try  impeachments.  We  would  now  make 
one  further  observation,  that  we  cannot  discover  in  this  article 
or  in  any  part  of  the  constitution  that  the  executive  power  is 
entrusted  with  a  check  upon  the  legislative  power,  sufficient  to 
prevent  the  encroachment  of  the  latter  upon  the  former  —  With- 
out this  check  the  legislative  power  will  exercise  the  executive, 
and  in  a  series  of  years  the  government  will  be  as  absolute  as 
that  of  Holland. 

The  nineteenth  article  regulates  the  appointment  of  the  sev- 
eral classes  of  officers.  And  we  find  that  almost  all  the  officers 
are  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  Senate.  An  objection  for- 
merly made  occurs  here.  The  Senate  with  the  Governor  are 
the  court  to  remove  these  officers  for  misbehaviour.  Those 
officers,  in  general,  who  are  guilty  of  male-conduct  in  the 


388  APPENDIX. 

execution  of  their  office,  were  improper  men  to  be  appointed. 
Sufficient  care  was  not  taken  in  ascertaining  their  political  mil- 
itary or  moral  qualifications.  Will  the  senators  therefore  if 
they  appoint,  be  a  proper  court  to  remove.  Will  not  a  regard 
to  their  own  characters  have  an  undue  bias  upon  them.  This 
objection  will  grow  stronger,  if  we  may  suppose  that  the  time 
will  come  when  a  man  may  procure  his  appointment  to  office 
by  bribery.  The  members  of  that  court  therefore  who  alone 
can  remove  for  misbehaviour,  should  not  be  concerned  in  the 
appointment.  Besides,  if  one  branch  of  the  legislative  body 
appoint  the  executive  officers,  and  the  same  branch  alone  can 
remove  them,  the  legislative  power  will  acquire  an  undue  influ- 
ence over  the  executive. 

The  twenty  second  article  describes  the  authority  the  Gov- 
ernor shall  have  in  all  business  to  be  transacted  by  him  and  the 
Senate.  The  Governor  by  this  article  must  be  present  in  con- 
ducting an  impeachment.  lie  has  it  therefore  in  his  power  to 
rescue  a  favourite  from  impeachment,  so  long  as  he  is  Governor, 
by  absenting  himself  from  the  Senate,  whenever  the  impeach- 
ment is  to  be  brought  forwards. 

We  cannot  conceive  upon  what  principles  the  twenty  third 
article  ascertains  the  speaker  of  the  house  to  be  one  of  the  three, 
the  majority  of  whom  have  the  power  of  granting  pardons.  The 
speaker  is  an  officer  of  one  branch  of  the  legislative  body,  and 
hourly  depends  upon  them  for  his  existence  in  that  character  — 
he  therefore  would  not  probably  be  disposed  to  offend  any  lead- 
ing party  in  the  house,  by  consenting  to,  or  denying  a  pardon. 
An  undue  influence  might  prevail  and  the  power  of  pardoning 
be  improperly  exercised.  —  When  the  speaker  is  guilty  of  this 
improper  exei-cise,  he  cannot  be  punished  but  by  impeachment, 
and  as  he  is  commonly  a  favourite  of  a,  considerable  party  in  the 
house,  it  will  be  difficult  to  procure  the  accusation  ;  for  his  party 
will  support  him. 

The  judges  by  the  twenty  fourth  article  are,  to  hold  their 
places  during  good  behaviour,  but  we  do  not  find  that  their 
salaries  are  any  where  directed  to  be  fixed.  The  house  of 
representatives  may  therefore  starve  them  into  a  state  of  de- 
pendence. 

The  twenty-eighth  article  determines  the  mode  of  electing  and 
removing  the  delegates  for  Congress.  It  is  by  joint  ballot  of  the 


ESSEX  RESULT.  389 

house  and  Senate.  These  delegates  should  be  some  of  the  best 
men  in  the  State.  Their  abilities  and  characters  should  be 
thoroughly  investigated.  This  will  be  more  effectually  done,  if 
they  are  elected  by  the  legislative  body,  each  branch  having  a 
right  to  originate  or  negative  the  choice,  and  removal.  And  we 
cannot  conceive  why  they  should  not  be  elected  in  this  manner, 
as  well  as  all  officers  who  are  annually  appointed  with  annual 
grants  of  their  sallaries,  as  is  directed  in  the  nineteenth  article. 
By  the  mode  of  election  now  excepted  against,  the  house  may 
choose  their  delegates,  altho*  every  Senator  should  vote  against 
their  choice. 

The  thirty-fourth  article  respecting  liberty  of  conscience,  we 
think  exceptionable,  but  the  observations  necessary  to  be  made 
thereon,  were  introduced  in  animadverting  upon  the  thirteenth 
article. 

The  Committee  have  purposely  been  as  concise  as  possible 
in  their  observations  upon  the  Constitution  proposed  by  the 
Convention  of  this  State  —  Where  they  thought  it  was  non- 
conformable  to  the  principles  of  a  free  republican  government, 
they  have  ventured  to  point  out  the  non-conformity  —  Where 
they  thought  it  was  repugnant  to  the  original  social  contract, 
they  have  taken  the  liberty  to  suggest  that  repugnance  —  And 
where  they  were  persuaded  it  was  founded  in  political  injustice, 
they  have  dared  to  assert  it. 

The  Committee,  in  obedience  to  the  direction  of  this  body, 
afterwards  proceeded  to  delineate  the  general  outlines  of  a  Con- 
stitution, conformable  to  what  have  been  already  reported  by 
them,  as  the  principles  of  a  free  republican  government,  and  as 
the  natural  rights  of  mankind. 

They  first  attempted  to  delineate  the  legislative  body.  It  has 
already  been  premised,  that  the  legislative  power  is  to  be  lodged 
in  two  bodies,  composed  of  the  representatives  of  the  people. 
That  representation  ought  to  be  equal.  And  that  no  law  affect- 
ing the  person  and  property  of  the  members  of  the  state  ought 
to  be  enacted,  without  the  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  members, 
and  of  those  also  who  hold  a  major  part  of  the  property. 

In  forming  the  first  body  of  legislators,  let  regard  be  had  only 
to  the  representation  of  persons,  not  of  property.  This  body  we 
call  the  house  of  representatives.  Ascertain  the  number  of 
representatives.  It  ought  not  to  be  so  large  as  will  induce 


390  APPENDIX. 

an  enormous  expence  to  government,  nor  too  unwieldy  to  de- 
liberate with  coolness  and  attention  ;  nor  so  small  as  to  be 
unacquainted  with  the  situation  and  circumstances  of  the  state. 
One  hundred  will  be  large  enough,  and  perhaps  it  may  be  too 
large.  AVe  are  persuaded  that  any  number  of  men  exceeding 
that,  cannot  do  business  with  such  expedition  and  propriety  a 
smaller  number  could.  However  let  that  at  present  be  con- 
sidered as  the  number.  Let  us  have  the  number  of  freemen  in 
the  several  counties  in  the  state ;  and  let  these  representatives 
be  apportioned  among  the  respective  counties,  in  proportion  to 
their  number  of  freemen.  The  representation  yet  remains  equal. 
Let  the  representatives  for  the  several  counties  be  elected  in  this 
manner.  Let  the  several  towns  in  the  respective  counties,  the 
first  Wednesday  in  May  annually,  choose  delegates  to  meet  in 
county  convention  on  the  thursday  next  after  the  second  Wednes- 
day in  May  annually,  and  there  elect  the  representatives  for  the 
county  —  Let  the  number  of  delegates  each  town  shall  send  to 
the  county  convention  be  regulated  in  this  manner.  Ascertain 
that  town  which  hath  the  smallest  number  of  freemen  ;  and  let 
that  town  send  one.  Suppose  the  smallest  town  contains  fifty. 
All  the  other  towns  shall  then  send  as  many  members  as  they 
have  fifties.  If  after  the  fifties  are  deducted,  there  remains  an 
odd  number,  and  that  number  is  twenty  five,  or  more,  let  them 
send  another,  if  less,  let  no  notice  be  taken  of  it.  We  have  taken 
a  certain  for  an  uncertain  number.  Here  the  representation  is  as 
equal  as  the  situation  of  a  large  political  society  will  admit.  Xo 
qualification  should  be  necessary  for  a  representative,  except 
residence  in  the  county  the  two  years  proceeding  his  election, 
and  the  payment  of  taxes  those  years.  Any  freeman  may  be 
an  elector  who  hath  resided  in  the  county  the  year  proceeding. 
The  same  qualification  is  requisite  for  a  delegate,  that  is  required 
of  a  representative.  Tlie  representatives  are  designed  to  repre- 
sent the  persons  of  the  members,  and  therefore  we  do  not  con- 
sider a  qualification  in  point  of  property  necessary  for  them. 

These  representatives  shall  be  returned  from  the  several  parts 
of  the  county  in  this  manner  —  Each  county  convention  shall 
divide  the  county  into  as  many  districts  as  they  send  representa- 
tives, by  the  following  rule  —  As  we  have  the  number  of  free- 
men in  the  county,  and  the  number  of  county  representatives, 
by  dividing  the  greater  by  the  less  we  have  the  number  of  free- 


ESSEX  RESULT.  391 

men  entitled  to  send  one  representative.  Then  add  as  many 
adjoining  towns  together  as  contain  that  number  of  freemen,  or 
as  near  as  may  be,  and  let  those  towns  form  one  district,  and 
proceed  in  this  manner  through  the  county.  Let  a  representa- 
tive be  chosen  out  of  each  district,  and  let  all  the  representatives 
be  elected  out  of  the  members  who  compose  the  county  conven- 
tion. In  this  house  we  find  a  proportionate  representation  of 
persons.  If  a  law  passes  this  house  it  hath  the  consent  of  a 
majority  of  the  freemen  ;  and  here  we  may  look  for  political 
honesty,  probity  and  upright  intentions  to  the  good  of  the  Avhole. 
Let  this  house  therefore  originate  money-bills,  as  they  will  not 
have  that  inducement  to  extravagant  liberality  which  an  house 
composed  of  opulent  men  would,  as  the  former  would  feel  more 
sensibly  the  consequences.  This  county  convention  hath  other 
business  to  do,  which  shall  be  mentioned  hereafter.  We  shall 
now  only  observe,  that  this  convention,  upon  a  proper  summons, 
is  to  meet  again,  to  supply  all  vacancies  in  it's  representation,  by 
electing  other  representatives  out  of  the  district  in  which  the 
vacancy  falls.  The  formation  of  the  second  body  of  legislators 
next  came  under  consideration,  which  may  be  called  the  senate. 
In  electing  the  members  for  this  body,  let  the  representation  of 
property  be  attended  to.  The  senators  may  be  chosen  most 
easily  in  a  county  convention,  which  may  be  called  the  senatorial 
convention.  Ascertain  the  number  of  senators.  Perhaps  thirty 
three  will  be  neither  too  large  nor  too  small.  Let  seven  more  be 
added  to  the  thirty  three  which  will  make  forty  —  these  seven 
will  be  wanted  for  another  purpose  to  be  mentioned  hereafter  — 
Apportion  the  whole  number  upon  the  several  counties,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  state-tax  each  county  pays.  Each  freeman  of  the 
state,  who  is  possessed  of  a  certain  quantity  of  property,  may  be 
an  elector  of  the  senators.  To  ascertain  the  value  of  a  man's 
estate  by  a  valuation  is  exceedingly  difficult  if  possible,  unless  he 
voluntarily  returns  a  valuation  —  To  ascertain  it  by  oath  would 
be  laying  snares  for  a  man's  conscience,  and  would  be  a  needless 
multiplication  of  oaths  if  another  method  could  be  devised  — 
To  fix  his  property  at  any  certain  sum,  would  be  vague  and 
uncertain,  such  is  the  iluctuation  of  even  the  best  currency,  and 
such  the  continual  alteration  of  the  nominal  Aralue  of  property 
—  Let  the  state-tax  assessed  on  each  freeman's  estate  decide  it 
-  That  tax  will  generally  bear  a  very  just  proportion  to  the 


392  APPENDIX. 

nominal  value  of  a  currency,  and  of  property.  Let  every  free- 
man whose  estate  pays  such  a  proportion  of  the  state-tax  that 
had  been  last  assessed  previous  to  his  electing,  as  three  pounds  is 
to  an  hundred  thousand  pounds,  be  an  elector  —  The  senatorial 
convention  may  be  composed  of  delegates  from  the  several  towns 
elected  in  this  manner.  Ascertain  the  town  which  contains  the 
smallest  number  of  freemen  whose  estates  pay  such  tax,  and 
ascertain  that  number.  Suppose  it  to  be  thirty.  Let  that  town 
send  one,  and  let  all  the  other  towns  in  the  county  send  as  many 
delegates  as  they  have  thirties.  If  after  the  thirties  are  deducted, 
there  remains  an  odd  number,  and  that  number  is  fifteen,  or 
more,  let  them  send  another,  if  it  is  less  than  fifteen  let  no  notice 
be  taken  of  it.  Let  the  delegates  for  the  senatorial  convention 
be  chosen  at  the  same  time  with  the  county  delegates,  and  meet 
in  convention  the  second  Wednesday  in  May  annually,  which  is 
the  day  before  the  county  convention  is  to  meet  —  and  let  no 
county  delegate  be  a  senatorial  delegate  the  same  year  —  We 
have  here  a  senate  (deducting  seven  in  the  manner  and  for  the 
purpose  hereafter  to  be  mentioned)  which  more  peculiarly  rep- 
resents the  property  of  the  state  ;  and  no  act  will  pass  both 
branches  of  the  legislative  body,  without  having  the  consent  of 
those  members  wrho  hold  a  major  part  of  the  property  of  the 
state.  In  electing  the  senate  in  this  manner,  the  representation 
will  be  as  equal  as  the  iluctuation  of  property  will  admit  of,  and 
it  is  an  equal  representation  of  property  so  far  as  the  number  of 
senators  is  proportioned  among  the  several  counties.  Such  is 
the  distribution  of  intestate  estates  in  this  country,  the  inequality 
between  the  estates  of  the  bulk  of  the  property  holders  is  so 
inconsiderable,  and  the  tax  necessary  to  qualify  a  man  to  be  an 
elector  of  a  senator  is  so  moderate,  it  may  be  demonstrated,  that 
a  law  which  passes  both  branches  will  have  the  consent  of  those 
persons  who  hold  a  majority  of  the  property  in  the  state.  No 
freeman  should  be  a  delegate  for  the  senatorial  convention  unless 
his  estate  pays  the  same  tax  which  was  necessary  to  qualify  him 
to  elect  delegates  for  that  convention  ;  and  no  freeman  shall  be 
an  elector  of  a  delegate  for  that  convention,  nor  a  delegate 
therefor,  unless  he  has  been  an  inhabitant  of  the  county  tor  the 
two  years  next  proceeding.  No  person  shall  lie  capable  of  an 
election  into  the  senate  unless  he  has  been  an  inhabitant  of 
the  county  for  three  years  next  proceeding  his  election  —  His 


ESSEX  RESULT.  393 

qualification  in  point  of  estate  is  also  to  be  considered.  Let  the 
state  tax  which  was  assessed  upon  his  estate  for  the  three  years 
next  proceeding  his  election  be  upon  an  average,  at  the  rate  of 
six  pounds  in  an  hundred  thousand  annually. 

This  will  be  all  the  duty  of  the  senatorial  convention  unless 
there  should  be  a  vacancy  in  the  senate  when  it  will  be  again 
convened  to  fill  up  the  vacancy.  These  two  bodies  will  have 
the  execution  of  the  legislative  power ;  and  they  are  composed 
of  the  necessary  members  to  make  a  just  proportion  of  taxes 
among  the  several  counties.  This  is  all  the  discretionary  power 
they  Avill  have  in  apportioning  the  taxes. 

Once  in  five  years  at  least,  the  legislative  body  shall  make  a 
valuation  for  the  several  counties  in  the  State,  and  at  the  same 
time  each  county  shall  make  a  county  valuation,  by  a  county 
convention  chosen  for  that  purpose  only,  by  the  same  rules  which 
the  legislative  body  observed  in  making  the  State  valuation  — 
and  whenever  a  State  valuation  is  made,  let  the  several  county 
valuations  be  also  made.  The  legislative  body  after  they  have 
proportioned  the  State  tax  among  the  several  counties,  shall  also 
proportion  the  tax  among  the  several  plantations  and  towns, 
agreeably  to  the  county  valuation,  to  be  filed  in  the  records  of 
the  General  Court  for  that  purpose.  It  may  be  observed  that 
this  county  valuation  will  be  taken  and  adjusted  in  county  con- 
vention, in  which  persons  only  arc  to  be  equally  represented : 
and  it  may  also  be  objected  that  property  ought  also  to  be  repre- 
sented for  this  purpose.  It  is  answered  that  each  man  in  the 
county  will  pay  at  least  a  poll  tax,  and  therefore  ought  to  be 
represented  in  this  convention  —  that  it  is  impracticable  in  one 
convention  to  have  persons  and  property  both  represented, 
with  any  degree  of  equality,  Avithout  great  intricacy  —  and  that, 
where  both  cannot  be  represented  without  great  intricacy,  the 
representation  of  property  should  yield  the  preference  to  that 
of  persons.  The  counties  ought  not  to  be  compelled  to  pay  their 
own  representatives  —  if  so,  the  counties  remote  from  the  seat  of 
government  would  be  at  a  greater  charge  than  the  other  coun- 
ties, which  would  be  unjust  —  for  they  have  only  an  equal  influ- 
ence in  legislation  with  the  other  counties,  yet  they  cannot  use 

that  influence  but  at  a  greater  cxpence They  therefore 

labor  under  greater  disadvantages  in  the  enjoyment  of  their 
political  liberties,  than  the  other  counties.  If  the  remote  coun- 


394  APPENDIX. 

ties  enjoyed  a  larger  proportional  influence  in  legislation  than 
the  other  counties,  it  would  be  just  they  should  pay  their  own 
members,  for  the  enhanced  expence  would  tend  to  check  this 
inequality  of  representation. 

All  the  representatives  should  attend  the  house,  if  possible, 
and  all  the  senators  the  senate.  A  change  of  faces  in  the  course 
of  a  session  retards  and  perplexes  the  public  business.  No  man 
should  accept  of  a  seat  in  the  legislative  body  without  he  intends 
a  constant  attendance  upon  his  duty.  Unavoidable  accidents, 
necessary  private  business,  sickness  and  death  may,  and  will  pre- 
vent a  general  attendance  :  but  the  numbers  requisite  to  con- 
stitute a  quorum  of  the  house  and  senate  should  be  so  large  as 
to  admit  of  the  absence  of  members,  only  for  the  reasons  afore- 
said. If  members  declined  to  attend  their  duty  they  should  be 
expelled,  and  others  chosen  who  would  do  better.  Let  seventy 
five  constitute  a  quorum  of  the  house,  and  twenty  four  of  the 
senate.  However  no  law  ought  to  be  enacted  at  any  time,  unless 
it  has  the  concurrence  of  fifty  one  representatives,  and  seventeen 
senators. 

We  have  now  the  legislative  body  (deducting  seven  of  the 
senators.)  Each  branch  hath  a  negative  upon  the  other — and 
cither  branch  may  originate  any  bill  or  propose  any  amend- 
ment, except  a  money  bill,  which  should  be  concurred  or  non- 
concurred  by  the  senate  in  the  whole.  The  legislative  body  is 
so  formed  and  ballanced  that  the  laws  will  be  made  with  the 
greatest  wisdom  and  the  best  intentions  ;  and  the  proper  consent 
thereto  is  obtained.  Each  man  enjoys  political  liberty,  and  his 
civil  rights  will  be  taken  care  of.  And  all  orders  of  men  are 
interested  in  government,  will  put  confidence  in  it,  and  strug- 
gle for  it's  support.  As  the  county  and  senatorial  delegates 
are  chosen  the  same  day  throughout  the  State,  as  all  the 
county  conventions  arc  held  at  the  same  time,  and  all  the 
senatorial  conventions  on  one  day,  and  as  these  delegates  are 
formed  into  conventions  on  a  short  day  after  their  election, 
elections  will  be  free,  bribery  will  be  impracticable,  and  party 
and  factions  will  not  be.  formed.  As  the  senatorial  conventions 
are  held  the  day  before  the  county  conventions,  the  latter  will 
have  notice  of  the  persons  elected  senators,  and  will  not  return 
them  as  representatives- — The  senatorial  convention  should  after 
it's  first  election  of  senators  be  adjourned  without  day,  but  not 


ESSEX  RESULT.  395 

dissolved,  and  to  be  occasionally  called  together  by  the  supreme 
executive  officer  to  keep  the  senate  full,  should  a  senator  elected 
decline  the  office,  or  afterwards  resign,  be  expelled,  or  die.  The 
county  convention  in  the  same  way  are  to  keep  the  representa- 
tion full,  and  also  supply  all  vacancies  in  the  offices  they  will 
be  authorised  to  appoint  to  and  elect  as  will  be  presently  men- 
tioned. By  making  provision  in  the  constitution  that  recourse 
be  had  to  these  principles  of  representation  every  twenty  years, 
by  taking  new  lists  of  the  freemen  for  that  purpose,  and  by  a 
new  distribution  of  the  number  of  representatives  agreeably 
thereto,  and  of  the  senators  in  proportion  to  the  State  tax,  repre- 
sentation will  be  always  free  and  equal.  These  principles  easily 
accommodate  themselves  to  the  erection  of  new  counties  and 
towns.  Crude  and  hasty  determinations  of  the  house  will  be 
revised  or  controuled  by  the  senate  ;  and  those  views  of  the 
senate  which  may  arise  from  ambition  or  a  disregard  to  civil 
liberty  will  be  frustrated.  Government  will  acquire  a  dignity 
and  firmness,  which  is  the  greatest  security  of  the  subject :  while 
the  people  look  on,  and  observe  the  conduct  of  their  servants, 
and  continue  or  withdraw  their  favour  annually,  according  to 
their  merit  or  demerit. 

The  forming  of  the  executive  power  came  next  in  course. 
Every  freeman  in  the  State  should  have  a  voice  in  this  forma- 
tion ;  for  as  the  executive  power  hath  no  controul  over  property, 
but  in  pursuance  of  established  laws,  the  consent  of  the  property- 
holders  need  not  be  considered  as  necessary.  Let  the  head  of 
the  executive  power  be  a  Governor  (or  in  his  absence,  or  on  his 
death,  a  Lieutenant  Governor)  and  let  him  be  elected  in  the 
several  county  conventions  by  ballot,  on  the  same  day  the  repre- 
sentatives are  chosen.  Let  a  return  be  made  by  each  man  fixed 
upon  by  the  several  conventions,  and  the  man  who  is  returned 
by  any  county  shall  be  considered  as  having  as  many  votes,  as 
that  county  sends  representatives.  Therefore  the  whole  number 
of  votes  will  be  one  hundred.  He  who  hath  fifty  one  or  more 
votes  is  Governor.  Let  the  Lieutenant-Governor  be  designated 
in  the  same  way.  This  head  of  the  supreme  executive  power 
should  have  a  privy  council,  or  a  small  select  number  (suppose 
seven)  to  advise  with.  Let  him  not  chuse  them  himself — for  he 
might  then,  if  wickedly  disposed,  elect  no  persons  who  had  integ- 
rity enough  to  controul  him  by  their  advice.  Let  the  legislative 


396  APPENDIX. 

body  elect  them  in  this  manner.  The  house  shall  chuse  by- 
ballot  seven  out  of  the  senate.  These  shall  be  a  privy  council, 
four  of  whom  shall  constitute  a  quorum.  Let  the  Governor 
alone  marshal  the  militia,  and  regulate  the  same,  together  with 
the  navy,  and  appoint  all  their  officers,  and  remove  them  at 
pleasure.  The  temper,  use,  and  end  of  a  militia  and  navy 
require  it.  lie  should  likewise  command  the  navy  and  militia, 
and  have  power  to  march  the  latter  any  where  within  the  state. 
Was  this  territory  so  situated,  that  the  militia  could  not  be 
marched  out  of  it,  without  entering  an  enemy's  country,  he 
should  have  no  power  to  march  them  out,  of  the  state.  But 
the  late  province  of  Main  militia  must  march  through  New- 
Hampshire  to  enter  Massachusetts,  ajid  so,  on  the  contrary. 
The  neighbouring  states  arc  all  friends  and  allies,  united  by  a 
perpetual  confederacy.  Should  Providence  or  Portsmouth  be 
attacked  suddenly,  a  day's  delay  might  be  of  most  pernicious 
consequence.  Was  the  consent  of  the  legislative  body,  or  a 
branch  of  it,  necessary,  a  longer  delay  would  be  unavoidable. 
Still  the  Governor  should  be  under  a  controul.  Let  him  march 
the  militia  without  the  state  with  the  advice  of  his  privy  coun- 
cil, and  his  authority  be  continued  for  ten  days  and  no  longer, 
unless  the  legislative  body  in  the  mean  time  prolong  it.  In 
these  ten  days  he  may  convene  the  legislative  body,  and  take 
their  opinion.  If  his  authority  is  not  continued,  the  legislative 
body  may  controul  him,  and  order  the  militia  back.  If  his  con- 
duct is  disapproved,  his  reputation,  and  that  of  his  advisers  is 
ruined.  He  will  never  venture  on  the  measure,  imless  the  gen- 
eral good  requires  it,  and  then  he  will  be  applauded.  Remem- 
ber the  election  of  Governor  and  council  is  annual.  But  the 
legislative  body  must  have  a  check  upon  the  Captain  General. 
He  is  best  qualified  to  appoint  his  subordinate  officers,  but  he 
may  appoint  improper  ones — lie  has  the  sword,  and  may  wish 
to  form  cabals  amongst  his  officers  to  perpetuate  his  power  — 
The  legislative  body  should  therefore  have,  a  power  of  removing 
any  militia  officer  at  pleasure  —  Each  branch  should  have  this 
power.  The  Captain  General  will  then  be  effectually  con- 
trouled.  The.  Governor  with  his  privy  council  may  also  appoint 
the  following  executive  officers,  viz  The  attorney  General  and 
the  justices  of  the  peace,  who  shall  hold  their  places  during 
•jood  behaviour — This  misbehaviour  shall  be  determined  bv  the 


ESSEX  RESULT.  397 

senate  on  impeachment  of  the  house.  On  this  scheme  a  mutual 
check  is  thus  far  preserved  in  both  the  powers.  The  supreme 
executive  officer  as  he  is  annually  removeable  by  the  people,  will 
for  that,  and  the  other  reasons  formerly  mentioned,  probably 
appoint  the  best  officers  :  and  when  he  does  otherwise  the  legis- 
lative power  will  remove  them.  The  militia  officers  which  are 
solely  appointed,  and  removeable  at  pleasure,  by  the  Governor, 
are  removeable  at  pleasure  by  either  branch  of  the  legislative. 
Those  executive  officers  which  are  removeable  only  for  mis- 
behaviour, the  consent  of  the  privy  council,  chosen  by  tlic  legisla- 
tive body,  is  first  necessary  to  their  appointment,  and  afterwards 
they  are  removeable  by  the  senate,  on  impeachment  of  the  house. 
We  now  want  only  to  give  the  executive  power  a  check  upon 
the  legislative,  to  prevent  the  latter  from  encroaching  on  the 
former,  and  stripping  it  of  all  it's  rights.  The  legislative  in  all 
states  hath  attempted  it  where  this  check  was  wanting,  and  have 
prevailed,  and  the  freedom  of  the  state  was  thereby  destroyed. 
This  attempt  hath  resulted  from  that  lust  of  domination,  which  in 
some  degree  influences  all  men,  and  all  bodies  of  men.  The 
Governor  therefore  with  the  consent  of  the  privy  council,  may 
negative  any  law,  proposed  to  be  enacted  by  the  legislative  body. 
The  advantages  which  will  attend  the  due  use  of  this  negative 
are,  that  thereby  the  executive  power  will  be  preserved  entire 
—  the  encroachments  of  the  legislative  will  be  repelled,  and  the 
powers  of  both  be  properly  balanced.  All  the  business  of  the 
legislative  body  will  be  brought  into  one  point,  and  subject  to  an 
impartial  consideration  on  a  regular  consistent  plan.  As  the 
Governor  will  have  it  in  charge  to  state  the  situation  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  the  legislative  body  at  the  opening  of  every  session, 
as  far  as  his  information  will  qualify  him  therefor,  he  will  now 
know  officially,  all  that  has  been  done,  with  what  design  the 
laws  were  enacted,  how  far  they  have  answered  the  proposed 
end,  and  what  still  remains  to  compleat  the  intention  of  the 
legislative  body.  The  reasons  why  he  will  not  make  an  improper 
use  of  his  negative  are  —  his  annual  election  —  the  annual  elec- 
tion of  the  privy  council,  by  and  out  of  the  legislative  body  — 
His  political  character  and  honour  are  at  stake  —  If  he  makes  a 
proper  use  of  his  negative  by  preserving  the  executive  powers 
entire,  by  pointing  out  any  mistake  in  the  laws  which  may 
escape  any  body  of  men  through  inattention,  he  will  have  the 


398  APPENDIX. 

smiles  of  the  people.  If  on  the  contrary,  he  makes  an  improper 
use  of  his  negative,  and  wantonly  opposes  a  law  that  is  for  the 
public  good,  his  reputation,  and  that  of  his  privy  council  are  for- 
feited, and  they  are  disgracefully  tumbled  from  their  seats.  This 
Governor  is  not  appointed  by  a  King,  or  his  ministry,  nor  does 
he  receive  instructions  from  a  party  of  men,  who  are  pursuing 
an  interest  diametrically  opposite  to  the  good  of  the  state.  His 
interest  is  the  same  with  that  of  every  man  in  the  state  ;  and  he 
knows  he  must  soon  return,  and  sink  to  a  level  with  the  rest  of 
the  community. 

The  danger  is,  he  will  be  too  cautious  of  using  his  negative  for 
the  interest  of  the  state.  His  fear  of  offending  may  prompt  him, 
if  he  is  a  timid  man,  to  yield  up  some  parts  of  the  executive 
power.  The  Governor  should  be  thus  qualified  for  his  office  — 
He  shall  have  been  an  inhabitant  of  the  state  for  four  years  next 
proceeding  his  election,  and  paid  public  taxes  those  years  —  Let 
the  state  tax  assessed  upon  his  estate  those  years  be,  upon  an 
average,  at  the  rate  of  sixteen  pounds  in  an  hundred  thousand 
annually. 

The  Lieutenant  Governor  should  have  the  same  qualifications 
that  are  required  from  the  Governor.  In  the  absence  out  of  the 
state  of  the  Governor  and  Lieutenant  Governor,  or  on  their 
deaths,  or  while  an  impeachment  is  pending  against  them,  or  in 
case  neither  should  be  chosen  at  the  annual  election,  let  the 
executive  power  devolve  upon  the  privy  council  until  the  office 
is  again  filled.  By  ascertaining  in  this  way  the  qualification 
required  from  the  Governor  in  point  of  property,  and  from  the 
other  servants  of  the  state  of  whom  a  qualification  in  point  of 
property  is  required,  that  ambition  which  prompts  a  man  to 
aspire  to  any  of  these  offices  or  places  will  benefit  the  state  as 
the  public  tax  he  pays  will  be  one  criterion  or'  his  qualification. 
By  electing  the  Governor  in  this  mariner,  he  hath  the  major 
voice  of  the  people,  and  bribery  or  undue  influence  is  impracti- 
cable. The  privy  council  have  also  the  major  voice  of  the 
people,  as  they  are  chosen  by  a  majority  of  the  representatives  : 
they  are  also  selected  from  the  senate,  which  it  is  to  be  pre- 
sumed, will  be  composed  of  some  of  the  best  men  in  the  state. 
As  a  further  security  against  any  inconveniency  resulting  from 
the.  length  of  time  a  Governor  may  hold  the  chair,  no  man  ought 
to  be  a  Governor  more  than  three  years  in  any  six.  There 


ESSEX  BESULT.  399 

ought  also,  as  soon  as  the  circumstances  of  the  state  will  admit 
of  it,  to  be  a  gradation  of  officers,  to  qualify  men  for  their  respec- 
tive departments  —  a  rotation  also  of  the  senators  will  prevent 
any  undue  influence  a  man  may  acquire,  by  the  long  possession 
of  an  important  office.  After  a  period  of  six  years  let  the  follow- 
ing rules  be  observed.  Let  no  man  be  eligible  as  Governor,  (or 
Lieutenant  Governor)  unless  he  has  had  a  seat  in  the  senate  or 
privy  council  for  two  years,  or  hath  formerly  been  Governor  or 
Lieutenant  Governor.  Let  no  man  be  eligible  as  senator,  unless 
he  had  a  seat  in  the  house,  senate,  or  privy  council,  the  proceed- 
ing year  —  And  let  one  fourth  of  the  senate  (which  for  this  pur- 
pose is  to  include  the  privy  council)  be  annually  made  ineligible 
to  that  rank,  for  two  years  ;  and  let  this  fourth  part  be  ascer- 
tained by  lot.  This  lot,  together  with  the  provisions  just  men- 
tioned, will  introduce  a  rotation  in  the  chair,  privy  council, 
senate  and  house  :  and  the  state  will  have  a  sufficient  number  of 
it's  members  qualified  for  these  important  offices,  by  the  grada- 
tion established.  These  servants  of  the  state  should  have  com- 
petent and  honourable  stipends  ;  not  so  large,  as  will  enable 
them  to  raise  a  fortune  at  the  expence  of  the  industrious  classes 
of  the  people  ;  nor  so  small,  that  a  man  must  injure  his  estate  by 
serving  the  public.  An  inadequate  salary  would  exclude  from 
service,  all  but  the  vainly  ambitious  ;  and  the  ambitious  man  will 
endeavour  to  repay  himself  by  attempting  measures  which  will 
hazard  the  constitution.  These  stipends  should  be  paid  out  of 
the  public  treasury,  and  the  Governor's  should  be  made  certain 
upon  fixed  principles,  otherwise  the  legislative  body  could  starve 
him  into  a  state  of  dependence. 

There  still  remain  some  other  officers  to  be  elected Let 

the  legislative  body  choose  the  delegates  for  Congress,  and  the 
Receiver  General  and  Commissary  General,  and  let  each  branch 
have  a  right  to  originate  or  negative  the  choice. 

Let  the  following  officers,  who  may  be  considered  as  county 
officers,  be  thus  elected  —  Let  each  county  convention  every 
three  years  choose  the  Sheriff,  Coroners,  and  county  Registers ; 
and  let  that  convention  annually  choose  a  county  Treasurer,  and 
a  deputy  Attorney  General,  to  prosecute  on  behalf  of  the  state  at 
the  court  of  sessions,  in  the  absence  of  the  Attorney  General. 

Let  us  also  consider  in  whose  hands  the  power  of  pardoning 
should  be  lodged.  If  the  legislative  body  or  a  branch  of  it  are 


400  APPENDIX. 

entrusted  -with  it,  the  same  body  which  made  or  -were  concerned 
in  making  the  law,  will  excuse  the  breach  of  it.  This  body  is  so 
numerous  that  most  offenders  will  have  some  relation  or  con- 
nexion with  some  of  it's  members,  undue  influence  for  that 
reason  may  take  place,  and  if  a  pardon  should  be  issued  im- 
properly, the  public  blame  will  fall  upon  such  members,  it  would 
not  have  the  weight  of  a  feather ;  and  no  conviction  upon  an 
impeachment  could  follow  —  The  house  would  not  impeach  them- 
selves, and  the  senators  would  not  condemn  the  senate.  If  this 
power  of  pardoning  is  lodged  with  the  Governor  and  privy  coun- 
cil, the  number  is  so  small,  that  all  can  personally  inform  them- 
selves of  the  facts,  and  misinformation  will  be  detected.  Their 
own  reputation  would  guard  them  against  undue  influence,  for 
the  censure  of  the  people  will  hang  on  their  necks  with  the 
weight  of  a  mill-stone  —  And  impeachments  will  stare  them  in 
the  face,  and  conviction  strike  them  with  terror.  Let  the  power 
of  pardoning  be  therefore  lodged  with  the  Governor  and  privy 
council. 

The  right  of  convening,  adjourning,  proroguing,  and  dissolving 
the  legislative  body  deserves  consideration.  The  constitution 
will  make  provision  for  their  convention  on  the  last  Wednesday 
in  May  annually.  Let  each  branch  of  the  legislative,  have 
power  to  adjourn  itself  for  two  days  —  Let  the  legislative  body 
have  power  to  adjourn  or  prorogue  itself  to  any  time  within  the 
year.  Let  the  Governor  and  privy  council  have  authority  to 
convene  them  at  pleasure,  when  the  public  business  calls  for  it, 
for  the  assembling  of  the  legislative  body  may  often  be  neces- 
sary, previous  to  the  day  to  which  that  body  had  adjourned  or 
prorogued  itself,  as  the  legislative  body  when  dispersed  cannot 
assemble  itself.  And  to  prevent  any  attempts  of  their  voting  a 
continuance  of  their  political  existence,  let  the  constitution  make 
provision,  that  some  time  in  every  year,  on  or  before  the  Wednes- 
day proceeding  the  last  Wednesday  in  May,  the  Governor  shall 
dissolve  them.  Before  that  day,  he  shall  not  have  power  to  do 
it,  without  their  consent. 

As  the  principles  which  should  govern  in  forming  the  judicial 
power  have  been  already  mentioned,  a  few  observations  only, 
arc  necessary  to  apply  those  principles. 

Let  the  judges  of  the  common  law  courts,  of  the  admiralty, 
and  probate,  and  the  register  of  probate,  be  appointed  by  the 


ESSEX  RESULT.  401 

Governor  and  privy  council ;  let  the  stipends  of  these  judges  be 
fixed ;  and  let  all  those  officers  be  removeable  only  for  mis- 
behaviour. Let  the  senate  be  the  judge  of  that  misbehaviour, 
on  impeachment  of  the  house. 

The  committee  have  now  compleated  the  general  out  lines  of 
a  constitution,  which  they  suppose  may  be  conformable  to  the 
principles  of  a  free  republican  government — They  have  not 
attempted  the  description  of  the  less  important  parts  of  a  con- 
stitution, as  they  naturally  and  obviously  are  determinable  by 
attention  to  those  principles  —  Neither  do  they  exhibit  these 
general  out  lines,  as  the  only  ones  which  can  be  consonant  to 
the  natural  rights  of  mankind,  to  the  fundamental  terms  of  the 
original  social  contract,  and  to  the  principles  of  political  justice  ; 
for  they  do  not  assume  to  themselves  infallibility.  To  complcat 
the  task  assigned  them  by  this  body,  this  constitution  is  held  up 
in  a  general  view,  to  convince  us  of  the  practicability  of  enjoying 
a  free  republican  government,  in  which  our  natural  rights  are 
attended  to,  in  which  the  original  social  contract  is  observed,  and 
in  which  political  justice  governs  ;  and  also  to  justify  us  in  our 
objections  to  the  constitution  proposed  by  the  convention  of  this 
state,  which  we  have  taken  the  liberty  to  say  is,  in  our  appre- 
hension, in  some  degree  deficient  in  those  respects. 

To  balance  a  large  society  on  republican  or  general  laws,  is 
a  work  of  so  great  difficulty,  that  no  human  genius,  however 
comprehensive,  is  perhaps  able,  by  the  mere  dint  of  reason 
and  reflection,  to  effect  it.  The  penetrating  and  dispassionate 
judgments  of  many  must  unite  in  this  work  :  experience  must 
guide  their  labour :  time  must  bring  it  to  perfection  :  and  the 
feeling  of  inconveniencies  must  correct  the  mistakes  which  they 
will  probably  fall  into,  in  their  first  trials  and  experiments. 

The  plan  which  the  proceeding  observations  were  intended  to 
exhibit  in  a  general  view,  is  now  compleated.  The  principles 
of  a  free  republican  form  of  government  have  been  attempted, 
some  reasons  in  support  of  them  have  been  mentioned,  the  out 
lines  of  a  constitution  have  been  delineated  in  conformity  to 
them,  and  the  objections  to  the  form  of  government  proposed  by 
the  general  convention  have  been  stated. 

This  was  at  least  the  task  enjoined  xipon  the  committee,  and 
whether  it  has  been  successfully  executed,  they  presume  not  to 
determine.  They  aimed  at  modelling  the  three  branches  of  the 
26 


402  APPENDIX. 

supreme  power  in  such  a  manner,  that  the  government  might. 
act  with  the  greatest  vigour  and  wisdom,  and  with  the  best 
intentions — They  aimed  that  each  of  those  branches  should 
retain  a  check  upon  the  others,  sufficient  to  preserve  it's  inde- 
pendence —  They  aimed  that  no  member  of  the  state  should  be 
controuled  by  any  law,  or  be  deprived  of  his  property,  against 
his  consent  —  They  aimed  that  all  the  members  of  the  state 
should  enjoy  political  liberty,  and  that  their  civil  liberties  should 
have  equal  care  taken  of  them  —  and  in  fine,  that  they  should  be 
a  free  and  an  happy  people  —  The  committee  are  sensible,  that 
the  spirit  of  a  free  republican  constitution,  or  the  moving  power 
which  should  give  it  action,  ought  to  be  political  virtue,  patriot- 
ism, and  a  just  regard  to  the  natural  rights  of  mankind.  This 
spirit,  if  wanting,  can  be  obtained  only  from  that  Being,  who 
infused  the  breath  of  Life  into  our  first  parent. 

The  committee  have  only  further  to  report,  that  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  several  towns  who  deputed  delegates  for  this  con- 
vention, be  seriously  advised,  and  solemnly  exhorted,  as  they 
value  the  political  freedom  and  happiness  of  themselves  and  of 
their  posterity,  to  convene  all  the  freemen  of  their  several  towns 
in  town  meeting,  for  this  purpose  regularly  notified,  and  that 
they  do  unanimously  vote  their  disapprobation  of  the  constitution 
and  form  of  government,  framed  by  the  convention  of  this  state; 
that  a  regular  return  of  the  same  be  made  to  the  secretary's 
office,  that  it  may  there  remain  a  grateful  monument  to  our 
posterity  of  that  consistent,  impartial  and  persevering  attach- 
ment to  political,  religious,  and  civil  liberty,  which  actuated  their 
fathers,  and  in  defence  of  which,  they  bravely  fought,  chearfully 
bled,  and  gloriously  died. 

The  above  report  being  read  was  accepted. 

Attest,  PETKU  COFFIX,  Chairman. 


JUDGE  PARKER'S  ADDRESS.  493 


No.  II. 

JUDGE  PARKER'S  ADDRESS  TO  THE 
GRAND  JURY. 

A  SKETCH  OF  THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  LATE  CHIEF  JUS- 
TICE PARSONS,  EXHIBITED  IN  AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  GRAND 
JURY,  DELIVERED  AT  THE  OPENING  OF  THE  SUPREME 
JUDICIAL  COURT  AT  BOSTON,  ON  THE  TWENTY-THIRD  DAY 
OF  NOVEMBER,  1813,  AFTER  THE  USUAL  CHARGE.  PUB- 
LISHED AT  THE  UNANIMOUS  REQUEST  OF  THE  GRAND  JURY 
AND  THE  BAR  OF  SUFFOLK.  BY  ISAAC  PARKER,  ESQ.,  ONE 

OF  THE  ASSOCIATE  JUSTICES  OF  THAT  COURT. 

INTRODUCTION. 

CHIEF  JUSTICE  PARSONS  -was  born  in  February,  1750,  and 
received  the  rudiments  of  his  education  under  the  celebrated 
Master  Moody,  at  Dummer  Academy,  in  his  native  parish  of  By- 
field,  within  the  ancient  town  of  Newbury.  His  father  was  min- 
ister of  that  parish.  He  received  the  ordinary  honors  of  the 
University  in  Cambridge  in  1769.  He  entered  upon  the  study  of 
the  law  under  the  late  Judge  Bradbury,  in  Falmouth,  now  Port- 
land, and  while  there  kept  the  Grammar  School  in  that  town. 
He  practised  law  there  a  few  years ;  but  the  conflagration  of  the 
town  by  the  British  obliged  him  to  withdraw  to  his  father's  house, 
where  he  met  Judge  Trowbridge,  as  stated  in  the  Address.  He, 
in  about  a  year  from  this  time,  opened  his  office  in  Newburyport. 
He  has  been  honored  with  degrees  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from  the 
University  of  Cambridge  and  Dartmouth  College,  and  from 
Brown  University  in  Rhode  Island.  In  1801,  he  was  presented 
by  President  Adams  with  a  commission  of  Attorney-General  of 
the  United  States,  which  he  did  not  accept.  He  had  been  also, 
by  the  choice  of  our  State  Legislature,  one  of  the  commissioners 
to  settle  a  controversy  with  the  State  of  New  York.  He  con- 
tinued faithful  to  his  chosen  profession  until  he  was  appointed 
Chief  Justice  of  the  State,  which  was  in  the  summer  of  180G. 


404:  APPENDIX. 

ADDRESS. 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  GRAND  JURY: 

At  the  first  assembling  of  this  court  in  this  place,  after  the 
death  of  that  eminent  man  who  has  for  some  years  been  its  head 
and  ornament,  our  minds  arc  naturally  and  forcibly  led  to  a  con- 
templation of  those  extraordinary  qualities  which  had  secured  to 
him  an  uncommon  share  of  the  veneration  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

Eulogies  upon  the  dead  have  become,  in  public  estimation,  but 
equivocal  evidence  of  their  virtues  and  talents ;  and  indiscrimi- 
nate panegyric  conveys  no  honor  to  its  subject,  and  no  benefit  to 
survivors. 

But  the  illustrious  dead,  —  those  who  have  brought  signal  repu- 
tation to  their  country,  who  have  aided  in  rearing  and  supporting 
the  edifice  of  state,  whose  learning  has  been  devoted  to  general 
use,  whose  private  virtues  have  afforded  an  example  to  the 
young,  whose  strength  of  mind  and  character  has  added  to  the 
dignity  of  man,  —  these  ought  not  to  be  forgotten. 

The  stores  of  human  wisdom  could  never  be  increased  did  not 
such  men  speak,  even  though  dead.  Their  lives  and  their  actions, 
recorded  with  truth,  arc  the  voice  of  history  speaking  to  succes- 
sive generations,  calling  them  to  emulate  what  is  great  and  noble, 
and  showing  the  practicability  of  almost  infinite  improvement  in 
the  capacities  of  the  human  mind. 

I  shall  not  be  accused  of  fulsome  panegyric,  in  asserting  that 
the  subject  of  this  Address  has  for  more  than  thirty  years  been 
acknowledged  the  great  man  of  his  time.  The  friends  who  have 
accompanied  him  through  life,  and  witnessed  the  progress  of  his 
mind,  want  no  proof  of  this  assertion ;  but  to  those  who  have 
heard  his  fame,  without  knowing  the  materials  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed, it  may  be  useful  to  give  such  a  display  of  his  character  as 
will  prove  that  the  world  is  not  always  mistaken  in  awarding  its 
honors. 

From  the  companions  of  his  early  years  I  have  learned,  that 
he  was  comparatively  great  before  he  arrived  at  manhood ;  that 
his  infancy  was  marked  by  mental  labor  and  study,  rather  than 
by  puerile  amusements;  that  his  youth  was  a  season  of  persever- 
ing acquisition,  instead  of  pleasure ;  and  that  when  he  became  a 
man,  he  seemed  to  possess  the  wisdom  and  experience  of  those 
who  had  been  men  long  before  him.  And,  indeed,  those  of  us 


JUDGE  PARKER'S  ADDRESS.  405 

who  have  seen  him  lay  open  his  vast  stores  of  knowledge  in  later 
life,  unaided  by  recent  acquirement,  and  relying  more  upon  mem- 
ory than  research,  can  account  for  his  greatness  only  by  supposing 
a  patience  of  labor  in  youth  which  almost  exhausted  the  sources 
of  information,  and  left  him  to  act  rather  than  study,  at  a  period 
when  others  arc  but  beginning  to  acquire. 

His  familiar  and  critical  knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
tongues,  so  well  known  to  the  literati  of  this  country,  and  to  some 
of  the  most  eminent  abroad,  was  the  fruit  of  his  early  labors,  pre- 
served and  perhaps  ripened  in  maturer  years,  but  gathered  in  the 
spring-time  of  his  life.*  His  philosophical  and  mathematical 
knowledge  were  of  the  same  early  harvest,  as  were  also  his  logi- 
cal and  metaphysical  powers. 

Had  he  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  I  am  persuaded  he 

*  The  following  fucts  were  communicated  to  me  by  the  Hon.  D.  A. 
Tyng. 

During  the  late  visit  of  Fr.  Ad.  Vanclcrkcmp,  Esq.,  formerly  of 
Lcydcn,  but  for  many  years  past  resident  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
I  had  the  satisfaction  of  introducing  him  to  our  late  excellent  Chief 
Justice,  and  of  witnessing  a  very  interesting  conversation  between  these 
two  learned  men  on  various  topics  of  literature.  After  we  left  the 
Chief  Justice's  house,  Mr.  V.  said  to  me,  that  he  had  been  very  much 
gratified  with  the  interview,  for  which  he  had  felt  a  strong  desire,  and 
particularly  from  a  circumstance  which  he  then  related. 

Some  years  since,  Mr.  V.  received  a  letter  from  the  late  Mr.  John 
Luzac,  Professor  of  the  Greek  Language,  &c.  in  the  University  of 
Lcydcn,  who  was  the  relative  and  intimate  friend  and  correspondent  of 
Mr.  V.,  and  confessedly  the  first  Greek  scholar  of  his  day  in  Europe, 
in  which  letter  Mr.  Lu/ac  inquired  of  Mr.  Vanderkemp,  whether  he 
had  made  an  acquaintance  with  a  Mr.  Parsons  of  Boston,  of  whom  he 
had  heard  that  he  was  called  in  America  "  the  Giant  of  the  Law." 
How  well  Mr.  Parsons  might  be  entitled  to  this  appellation,  Mr.  Luzac 
said  he  could  not  judge;  but  he  could  of  his  own  knowledge  affirm  that 
he  was  "  a  giant  in  Greek  criticism." 

Professor  Luzac's  opinion  was  founded  on  a  correspondence  he  held 
with  the  Chief  Justice,  many  years  ago,  occasioned  by  the  latter  sending 
to  Amsterdam  for  some  rare  editions  of  Greek  authors,  which  could  not 
be  obtained  then  cither  in  this  country  or  England. 

At  college,  he  was  an  excellent  scholar  in  Greek  and  Latin.  But  he 
began  the  study  of  Greek  again  after  lie  was  forty  years  old,  when  his 
eldest  son  was  fitting  for  college. 


406  APPENDIX. 

would  have  been  held  up  to  youth  as  an  instance  of  astonishing 
and  successful  perseverance  in  the  severest  employments  of  the 
mind. 

Heaven,  which  gave  him  this  spirit  of  industry,  endowed  him 
also  with  a  genius  to  give  it  effect. 

There  were  united  in  him  an  imagination  vivid,  but  not  vision- 
ary, a  most  discriminating  judgment,  the  attentiveness  and  pre- 
cision of  the  mathematician,  and  a  memory  which,  however 
enlarged  and  strengthened  by  exercise,  must  have  been  originally 
powerful  and  capacious. 

With  these  wonderful  faculties,  which  had,  from  the  first  dawn- 
ings  of  reason,  been  employed  on  subjects  most  interesting  to  the 
human  mind,  he  came  to  the  study  of  that  science  which  claims 
a  kindred  with  every  other,  —  the  science  of  the  law. 

This  was  a  field  worthy  of  his  labors  and  congenial  with  his 
understanding.  How  successfully  he  explored,  cultivated,  and 
adorned  it,  need  not  be  related  by  his  contemporaries. 

Never  was  fame  more  early  or  more  just  than  that  of  Parsons 
as  a  lawyer.  At  an  age  when  most  of  the  profession  are  but 
beginning  to  exhibit  their  talents  and  to  take  a  fixed  rank  at  the 
bar,  he  was  confessedly,  in  point  of  profound  legal  kuowledge, 
among  the  first  of  its  professors. 

His  professional  services  were  everywhere  sought  for.  In  his 
native  county,  and  in  the  neighboring  State  of  New  Hampshire, 
scarcely  a  cause  of  importance  was  litigated  in  which  he  was  not 
an  advocate.  His  fame  had  spread  from  the  country  to  the  capi- 
tal, to  which  he  was  almost  constantly  called  to  take  a  share  in 
trials  of  intricacy  and  interest. 

At  that  early  period  of  his  life,  his  most  formidable  rival  and 
most  frequent  competitor  was  the  accomplished  lawyer  and 
scholar,  the  late  Judge  Lowell,  whose  memory  is  still  cherished 
with  affection  by  the  wise  and  virtuous  of  our  State.  Judge 
Lowell  was  considerably  his  senior,  but  entertained  the  highest 
respect  for  the  general  talents  and  juridical  skill  of  his  able  com- 
petitor. It  was  the  highest  intellectual  treat  to  see  these  great 
men  contending  for  victory  in  the  judicial  forum.  Lowell,  with 
all  the  ardor  of  the  most  impassioned  eloquence,  assaulting  the 
hearts  of  his  auditors,  and  seizing  their  understandings  also,  with 
the  most  cogent  as  well  as  the  most  plausible  arguments.  Par- 
sons, cool,  steady,  and  deliberate,  occupying  every  post  which 


JUDGE  PARKER'S  ADDRESS.  407 

was  left  uncovered,  and  throwing  in  his  forces  wherever  the  zeal 
of  his  adversary  had  left  an  opening.  Notwithstanding  this 
almost  continual  forensic  warfare,  they  were  warm  personal 
friends,  and  freely  acknowledged  each  other's  merits. 

The  other  eminent  men  of  that  day,  with  whom  Parsons  was 
brought  to  contend,  did  full  justice  to  his  great  powers.  I  have 
myself  heard  the  late  Governor  Sullivan  declare,  he  was  the 
greatest  lawyer  living. 

So  rapid  and  yet  so  sure  was  the  gi-owth  of  his  reputation,  that 
immediately  upon  his  commencing  the  practice  of  the  law,  his 
office  was  considered,  by  some  of  the  first  men  our  State  has  pro- 
duced, to  be  the  most  perfect  school  for  legal  instruction. 

That  distinguished  lawyer  and  statesman,  Rufus  King,  having 
finished  his  education  at  our  University  at  an  age  when  he  was 
qualified  to  choose  his  own  instructor,  placed  himself  under  the 
tuition  of  Parsons ;  and  probably  it  was  owing  in  some  measure 
to  the  wise  lessons  of  the  master,  as  well  as  to  the  great  talents  of 
the  scholar,  that  the  latter  acquired  a  celebrity,  during  the  few 
years  he  remained  at  the  bar,  seldom  attained  in  so  short  a  pro- 
fessional career. 

Many  others  of  our  principal  lawyers  and  statesmen  are  in- 
debted to  the  same  preceptor  for  their  fundamental  acquisitions 
in  the  science  of  jurisprudence  and  civil  polity. 

I  will  not  omit  to  mention,  for  I  wish  not  to  exaggerate  his 
powers,  that  he  enjoyed  one  advantage  in  his  education  beyond 
any  of  his  contemporaries,  except  the  learned,  able,  and  upright 
Chief  Justice  Dana,  whose  long  and  useful  administration  in  this 
court  ought  to  be  remembered  with  gratitude  by  his  fellow-citi- 
zens. I  refer  to  the  society  and  conversation  of  Judge  Trow- 
bridge,  perhaps  the  most  profound  common  lawyer  of  New  Eng- 
land before  the  Revolution.  This  venerable  old  man,  like  some 
of  the  ancient  sages  of  the  law  in  England,  had  pursued  his  legal 
disquisitions  long  after  he  had  ceased  to  be  actively  engaged  in 
the  profession,  from  an  ardent  attachment  to  the  law  as  a  science, 
and  had  employed  himself  in  writing  essays  and  forming  elabo- 
rate readings  upon  abstruse  and  difficult  points  of  law. 

Many  of  his  works  are  now  extant  in  manuscript,  and  some  in 
print,  and  they  abundantly  prove  the  depth  of  his  learning,  and 
the  diligence  and  patience  of  his  research. 

When  Parsons  had  retired  to  the  house  of  his  father,  a  respect- 


408  APPENDIX. 

able  minister  of  Newbury,  in  consequence  of  the  destruction  of 
Falmouth  by  the  British,  he  there  met  Judge  Trowbridge,  who 
had  sought  shelter  from  the  confusion  of  the  times  in  the  same 
hospitable  mansion.  How  grateful  must  it  have  been  to  the 
learned  sage,  in  the  decline  of  life,  fraught  with  the  lore  of  more 
than  half  a  century's  incessant  and  laborious  study,  to  meet  in  a 
peaceful  village,  secure  from  the  alarms  of  war,  a  scholar  panting 
for  instruction,  and  capable  of  comprehending  his  profound  and 
useful  lessons ;  and  how  delightful  to  the  scholar  to  find  a  teacher 
so  fitted  to  pour  instruction  into  his  eager  and  grasping  mind. 
He  regarded  it  as  an  uncommon  blessing,  and  has  frequently 
observed  that  this  early  interruption  to  his  business,  which  seemed 
to  threaten  poverty  and  misfortune,  was  one  of  the  most  useful 
and  happy  events  of  his  life. 

His  habit  of  looking  deeply  into  the  ancient  books  of  the  com- 
mon law,  and  tracing  back  settled  principles  to  original  decisions, 
probably  acquired  under  this  fortunate  and  accidental  tuition,  was 
the  principal  source  of  his  early  and  continued  celebrity. 

He  entered  upon  business,  also,  after  this  connection  ceased, 
early  in  our  Revolutionary  war,  when  the  courts  of  admiralty 
jurisdiction  were  open  and  crowded  with  causes,  in  the  manage- 
ment of  which  he  had  a  large  share.  This  led  him  to  study  with 
diligence  the  civil  law,  law  of  nations,  and  the  principles  of  bel- 
ligerent and  neutral  rights,  in  all  which  he  soon  became  as  dis- 
tinguished as  he  was  for  his  knowledge  of  the  common  and  stat- 
ute law  of  the  country.  Twenty-six  years  ago,  when  I  with 
others  of  my  age  were  pupils  in  the  profession  of  the  law,  we 
saw  our  masters  call  this  man  into  their  councils,  and  yield  im- 
plicit confidence  to  his  opinions.  Among  men  eminent  them- 
selves, and  by  many  years  his  seniors,  we  saw  him  by  common 
consent  take  the  lead  in  causes  which  required  intricate  investi- 
gation and  deepness  of  research. 

In  the  art  of  special  pleading,  which  more  than  anything  tests 
the  learning  of  a  lawyer  in  his  peculiar  pursuit,  he  had  then  no 
competitor. 

In  force  of  combination  and  power  of  reasoning  he  was  unri- 
valled, and  in  the  happy  talent  of  penetrating  through  the  mass 
of  circumstances  which  sometimes  surround  and  obscure  a  cause, 
I  do  not  remember  his  equal. 

His  arguments  were  directed  to  the  understandings  of  men, 


JUDGE  PARKER'S  ADDRESS.  499 

seldom  to  their  passions ;  and  yet  .instances  may  be  recollected, 
when,  in  causes  which  required  it,  he  has  assailed  the  hearts  of 
his  hearers  with  as  powerful  appeals  as  were  ever  exhibited  in 
the  cause  of  misfortune  or  humanity.  I  do  not  disparage  others 
by  placing  him  at  their  head.  They  were  great  men ;  lie  was  a 
wonderful  man.  Like  the  great  moralists  of  England,  he  might 
be  surrounded  by  men  of  genius,  literature,  and  science,  and 
neither  he  nor  they  suffer  by  a  comparison.  Indeed,  he  seemed 
to  form  a  class  of  intellect  by  himself,  rather  than  a  standard  of 
comparison  for  others. 

Even  his  enemies  —  for  it  is  the  lot  of  all  extraordinary  men  to 
have  them  —  paid  voluntary  homage  to  his  greatness.  They 
designated  him  by  an  appellation  which,  from  its  appropriateness, 
became  a  just  compliment,  —  the  Giant  of  the  Law. 

I  have  spoken  now  of  his  early  life  only,  before  he  was  thirty- 
five  years  of  age  ;  and  yet  it  is  known  that  common  minds,  and 
even  great  minds,  do  not  arrive  at  maturity  in  this  profession 
until  a  much  later  period. 

From  this  time  for  near  twenty  years  I  lived  in  a  remote  part 
of  the  State,  and  had  no  opportunity  personally  to  witness  his 
powers ;  but  his  fame  pursued  me  even  there.  He  was  regarded 
by  those  lawyers  with  whom  I  have  been  conversant,  as  the  living 
oracle  of  the  law.  His  transmitted  opinions  carried  with  them 
authority  sufficient  to  settle  controversies  and  terminate  litigation. 

On  my  accession  to  the  bench,  I  had  an  opportunity  to  see  him 
in  practice  at  the  bar,  when  he  possessed  the  accumulated  wis- 
dom and  learning  of  fifty-six  years.  Though  laboring  under  a 
valetudinarian  system,  his  mind  was  vigorous  and  majestic.  His 
great  talent  was  that  of  condensation.  He  presented  his  propo- 
sitions in  regular  and  lucid  order,  drew  his  inferences  with  just- 
ness and  precision,  and  enforced  his  arguments  with  a  simplicity, 
yet  fulness,  which  left  nothing  obscure  or  misunderstood. 

He  seemed  to  have  an  intuitive  perception  of  the  cardinal 
points  of  a  cause,  upon  which  lie  poured  out  the  whole  treasures 
of  his  mind,  while  he  rejected  all  minor  facts  and  principles  from 
his  consideration. 

He  was  concise,  energetic,  and  resistless  in  his  reasoning.  The 
most  complicated  questions  appeared  in  his  hands  the  most  easy 
of  solution ;  and  if  there  be  such  a  thing  as  demonstration  in 
argument,  he,  above  all  the  men  I  know,  had  the  power  to  pro- 
duce it. 


410  APPENDIX. 

With  this  fulness  of  learning  and  reputation,  having  had  thirty- 
five  years  of  extensive  practice  in  all  branches  of  the  law,  and 
having,  indeed,  for  the  last  ten  years  acted  unofficially  as  judge 
in  many  of  the  most  important  mercantile  disputes  which  occurred 
in  this  town,  he  was,  on  the  resignation  of  Chief  Justice  Dana, 
selected  by  our  present  Governor  to  preside  in  this  court.*  This 
was  the  first,  and  I  believe  the  only  instance  of  a  departure  from 
the  ordinary  rule  of  succession ;  and,  considering  the  character 
and  talents  of  some  who  had  been  many  years  on  the  bench,  per- 
haps no  greater  proof  could  be  given  of  his  pre-eminent  legal 
endowments  than  that  this  elevation  should  have  been  universally 
approved.  Perhaps  there  never  was  a  period  when  the  regular 
succession  would  have  been  more  generally  acquiesced  in  as  fit 
and  proper,  and  yet  the  departure  from  it  in  this  instance  was 
everywhere  gratifying. 

That  the  man  who  in  England  would,  probably,  by  the  mere 
force  of  his  talents,  without  the  aid  of  family  interest,  have  ar- 
rived to  the  dignity  of  Lord  Chancellor  or  Lord  Chief  Justice, 
should  be  placed  at  the  head  of  so  important  a  department,  was 
considered  a  most  favorable  epoch  in  our  juridical  history.f 

The  imperfect  system  of  judicature  which  had  prevailed  here 
until  about  that  period,  had  rendered  even  great  legal  abilities 
inadequate  to  the  establishment  of  a  course  of  proceedings  and 
uniformity  of  decisions,  so  necessary  to  the  safe  and  satisfactory 
administration  of  justice.  There  had  been  no  history  of  past 

*  So  great  was  his  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  that,  upon  his  removal 
from  Ncwburyport  to  Boston,  it  was  customary  for  merchants  of  dis- 
tinction, who  had  some  unavoidable  dispute,  to  make  out  a  statement 
of  the  facts,  and  submit  them  to  his  decision ;  and  in  this  way  many 
important  commercial  questions  have  been  settled,  witbout  incurring 
the  expense  or  delay  of  a  lawsuit. 

t  The  assertion  that  Chief  Justice  Parsons  would  probably  have 
been  made  Lord  Chancellor  or  Lord  Cbicf  Justice  in  England,  had  he 
lived  there,  will  probably  be  considered  extravagant  by  those  who  are 
in  the  habit  of  magnifying  objects  in  proportion  to  their  distance.  But 
from  a  comparison  of  him  with  Lords  Mansfield,  Kenyou,  Ellcnbor- 
ough,  Eldon,  and  Erskinc,  as  they  appear  in  books,  and  from  the 
opinion  of  several  gentlemen  who  have  seen  most  of  those  dignitaries 
in  the  exercise  of  their  high  functions,  I  have  little  doubt  that  such 
would  have  been  his  destiny,  and  none  that  he  would  have  merited  it. 


JUDGE  PARKER'S  ADDRESS.  411 

transactions  preserved  by  a  reporter,  the  sage  opinions  and 
learned  counsels  of  departed  judges  had  been  lost  even  from  the 
memory,  and  precedents  were  sought  for  only  in  the  books  of  a 
foreign  country.  The  most  interesting  points  of  law  had  been 
settled  in  the  hurry  and  confusion  of  jury  trials ;  and  conflicting 
opinions  of  judges,  arising  from  pressure  of  business  and  want  of 
time  to  deliberate,  were  adjusted  by  that  body  which  is  supposed 
by  the  constitution  and  the  laws  to  be  competent  to  try  the  fact 
alone. 

But  a  new  era  had  arisen ;  our  system  had  been  wisely  assimi- 
lated to  that  of  England,  imperfectly  it  is  true,  but  with  great 
improvements  upon  the  old. 

Its  success  depended  much  upon  the  character  of  those  who 
were  called  to  administer  it.  There  were  men  upon  the  bench 
qualified  to  illustrate  its  advantages,  (I  need  not  say  to  a  candid 
auditory  that  I  speak  altogether  of  others,)  yet  the  appointment 
of  Parsons  was  hailed  by  all,  and  especially  by  those  who  best 
understood  our  past  difficulties,  with  the  highest  approbation. 
His  profound  learning,  long  and  uninterrupted  employment  in 
the  country  and  in  the  capital,  and  especially  his  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  forms  and 'practice,  peculiarly  fitted  him  to  take  the  lead 
in  the  new  and  improved  order  of  things.  How  fully  public  ex- 
pectation has  been  satisfied,  I  need  not  declare.  The  reformed 
state  of  the  dockets  throughout  the  Commonwealth,  the  prompt- 
ness of  decisions,  the  regularity  of  trials,  attest  the  beneficial 
effects  of  a  system  which  he  has  done  so  much  to  render  popular 
and  permanent. 

If  to  some  respectable  and  eminent  men  he  at  times  ap- 
peared precipitate  in  his  nisi  priits  opinions,  I  am  sure  they  will 
admit  that  he  of  all  men  had  the  most  right  to  decide  promptly, 
and  that  the  rectitude  of  his  decisions  generally  justified  their 
apparent  haste. 

On  this  subject  I  would  also  remark,  that  in  the  course  of 
thirty-five  years'  practice  almost  every  subject  of  legal  inquiry 
had  passed  in  review  before  his  mind ;  that  his  memory,  the  most 
distinguished  of  all  his  great  faculties,  retained  everything  he  had 
ever  read,  and  almost  everything  he  had  ever  heard ;  and  that, 
thus  supplied  with  principles  and  precedents,  it  is  not  astonishing 
that  great  minds  should  sometimes  be  surprised  at  the  cuddenness 
of  his  opinions,  and  should  be  inclined  to  impute  to  haste  what 


412  APPENDIX. 

was  the  effect  of  knowledge.  He  appeared  to  have  an  instanta- 
neous perception  of  the  legal  merits  of  a  controversy,  and  to  see 
the  beginning,  middle,  and  end  of  a  cause  with  one  comprehen- 
sive glance.  I  acknowledge  myself  among  those  who  have  some- 
times imputed  to  precipitancy  what  I  have  afterwards  found  to 
be  the  result  of  learning  and  memory. 

To  have  had  a  depository  for  the  preservation  of  the  learned 
efforts  of  so  eminent  a  judge,  must  be  considered  fortunate  for  us 
and  for  posterity.  The  six  first  volumes  of  the  present  series  of 
Reports  will  long  endure  as  a  monument  of  the  technical  learn- 
ing and  deep  juridical  reasonings  of  the  late  Chief  Justice.  The 
principles  of  the  common  law  relating  to  real  estates  are  there 
clearly  and  familiarly  explained,  and  most  of  our  important  legis- 
lative acts  have  there  received  constructions  consonant  to  their 
real,  but  often  obscure  intent.  In  these  books  will  also  be  found 
many  important  mercantile  cases,  in  which  the  principles  of  com- 
mercial and  marine  contracts  have  been  discussed  with  remarka- 
ble clearness,  and  the  law  merchant  has  been  fully  and  satisfac- 
torily explained.  Had  he  been  spared  to  us,  as  I  had  always 
hoped  he  would  be,  for  a  period  of  ten  years  of  judicial  life,  the 
abundant  stores  of  his  knowledge  would  have'  been  thus  drawn 
out  for  public  use,  and  his  fellow-laborers  who  survive,  and  their 
successors,  perhaps  for  centuries,  would  have  enjoyed  the  fruits 
of  his  studies  and  experience.  But  more  than  two  years  ago  it 
pleased  Heaven  to  afflict  him  with  a  malady,  which,  though  it 
left  his  mind  unimpaired,  rendered  corporeal  exercise,  particu- 
larly that  of  writing,  extremely  irksome.  In  this  respect  only 
was  his  usefulness  diminished  ;  but  the  consequence  has  been  a 
loss  to  the  public  of  much  of  his  learning  and  juridical  wisdom. 

But  he  possessed  other  qualities  of  a  judge,  not  exposed  to  the 
public  eye,  but  equally  important  with  those  which  have  been 
mentioned.  He  was  a  patient  and  diligent  inquirer  after  truth, 
revolving  and  revising  his  own  opinions  until  it  was  scarcely  pos- 
sible they  should  not  be  correct,  communicating  freely  to  his 
brethren  his  own  reasonings,  and  candidly  listening  to  theirs, 
suppressing  all  pride  of  opinion,  and  being  ready  to  adopt  an- 
other's instead  of  his  own,  if  found  more  conformable  to  truth, 
and  never  being  willing  to  give  the  sanction  of  the  whole  court 
to  a  principle,  until  it  had  been  tested  by  every  method  which 
learning  and  ingenuity  could  devise. 


JUDGE  PARKER'S  ADDRESS. 


The  remarkable  coincidence  of  opinion  which  appears  in  our 
Reports,  is  not  more  a  testimony  of  his  power  of  enforcing  his 
own,  than  of  his  candid  estimation  of  that  of  others.  He  was 
not  an  arrogant  man  ;  for,  though  he  well  knew  his  own  powers, 
he  also  knew  the  fallibility  of  all  human  power,  and  that  no  man 
is  so  sufficient  of  himself  as  to  want  no  assistance  from  others. 
The  decisions  of  the  court,  with  the  reasons  on  which  they  were 
founded,  when  digested  and  committed  to  writing  by  him,  were 
submitted  to  the  consideration  of  his  brethren,  with  a  strong  de- 
sire that  they  should  be  criticised  and  pruned,  and  he  lent  a 
willing  ear  to  suggestions  of  alteration  and  improvement. 

Though  fraught  with  all  the  technical  learning  of  the  bar,  and 
accustomed  to  strict  adherence  to  rules  in  his  own  practice,  he 
yet,  like  Lord  Mansfield,  was  averse  from  suffering  justice  to  be 
entangled  in  the  net  of  forms  :  and  he  therefore  exerted  all  his 

O  ' 

ingenuity  to  support  by  technical  reasoning  the  principles  of 
equity  and  right. 

In  the  administration  of  criminal  law,  however,  he  was  strict, 
and  almost  punctilious,  in  adhering  to  forms.  He  required  of  the 
public  prosecutors  the  most  scrupulous  exactness,  believing  it  to 
be  the  right,  even  of  the  guilty,  to  be  tried  according  to  known 
and  practised  rules  ;  and  that  it  was  a  less  evil  for  a  criminal  to 
escape,  than  that  the  barriers  established  for  the  security  of  inno- 
cence should  be  overthrown.  He  was  a  humane  judge,  and 
adopted,  in  its  fullest  extent,  the  maxim  of  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Hale,  that  doubts  should  always  be  placed  in  the  scale  of  mercy. 

I  have  thus  attempted  a  sketch  of  the  professional  and  judicial 
character  of  Chief  Justice  Parsons  ;  but  he  was  always  a  man 
belonging  to  the  public,  and  his  political  character  requires  some 
attention.  I  abstain  from  any  observations  upon  the  political 
doctrines  he  uniformly  espoused,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the 
administrations  of  our  government,  for  I  wish  not  to  offend  the 
feelings  of  some  who  are  obliged  to  hear,  and  who  probably  differ 
from  him,  and  from  me,  upon  that  subject.  I  mean  only  to  show 
what  he  has  done,  in  order  that  you  may  not  refuse  to  join  me  in 
ascribing  to  him  the  character  of  a  statesman  and  a  patriot.  He 
was  always  tenaciously  attached  to  home,  and  unwilling  to  en- 
gage in  scenes  which  drew  him  from  it  ;  so  that  it  was  difficult  to 
prevail  upon  him  to  take  so  great  a  share  in  public  councils  as 
his  townsmen  and  the  people  of  his  county  desired. 


414  APPENDIX. 

But  on  great  and  solemn  occasions,  when  the  Commonwealth 
was  organizing,  and  when  it  was  in  jeopardy,  he  yielded  to  the 
impulse  of  patriotism  and  the  solicitations  of  his  neighbors,  and 
gave  his  time  and  talents  to  the  State.  Accordingly,  in  1779,  he 
became  a  member  of  the  Convention  which  deliberated  upon  and 
formed  the  frame  of  State  government,  which  has  so  happily  con- 
tinued, in  spite  of  the  many  rude  shocks  it  has  received,  to  the 
present  day.  At  a  time  when  the  people  had  freed  themselves 
from  a  government  which  had  become  tyrannical,  when  they 
were  held  together  as  a  body  politic  by  a  sense  of  danger  rather 
than  by  the  restraints  of  law,  and  when  an  enthusiastic  love  of 
liberty  was  universally  felt,  so  that  the  rigors  of  a  bad  govern- 
ment would  naturally  excite  jealousy  of  any  which  should  be 
proposed,  it  was  no  easy  task  to  introduce  into  the  compact  vigor 
enough  to  prolong  its  existence  beyond  the  time  of  peril,  which 
seemed  to  supersede  the  necessity  of  all  government. 

There  were  great  and  amiable  men  in  that  Convention,  so 
enraptured  with  the  view  of  order,  discipline,  and  regard  to 
right,  spontaneously  existing  without  coercive  power,  that  they  in 
some  measure  lost  sight  of  the  lessons  of  history,  and  concluded 
that  the  people  would  always  remain  wise  and  virtuous,  and  that 
the  most  lax  system  of  government  for  such  a  people  was  the 
best.  There  were  others  equally  attached  to  true  liberty,  but 
less  ardent  in  their  feelings,  who  believed  that  man  was,  in  all 
ages  and  in  almost  all  places,  the  same,  —  a  being  of  many  virtues 
and  many  vices,  thoughtful  and  moderate  in  adversity,  rash  and 
presumptuous  in  prosperity,  and  at  all  times  requiring  the  strong 
arm  of  government  and  law  to  repress  his  passions  and  restrain 
his  propensity  to  error. 

In  the  latter  class  was  Parsons ;  and  he  was  indefatigable  in  his 
exertions  to  obtain  as  energetic  a  system  as  the  people  would  bear, 
and  to  introduce  into  it  those  checks  and  balances  which  would 
insure  its  durability.  I  have  the  authority  of  contemporary 
statesmen  for  declaring,  that,  among  these  wise  men  and  patriots, 
Parsons,  at  that  time  not  thirty  years  old,  discovered  an  intelli- 
gence, strength  of  mind,  and  force  of  reasoning,  which  gave  him 
a  decided  influence  in  that  venerable  assembly.  Many  of  the 
most  important  articles  of  the  Constitution  were  of  his  draft,  and 
those  provisions  which  were  most  essential,  though  least  palatable, 
such  as  dignity  and  power  to  the  excutive,  independence  to  the 


JUDGE  PARKER'S   ADDRESS.  415 

judiciary,  and  a  separation  of  the  branches  of  the  legislative  de- 
partment, were  supported  by  him  with  all  the  power  of  argument 
and  eloquence  which  could  be  derived  from  deep  historical  infor- 
mation and  wise  reflections  upon  the  nature  and  character  of 
mankind.  Wherever  he  was  placed,  his  influence  was  immedi- 
ately felt,  and  his  assiduity  and  patience  of  investigation,  added 
to  his  ability  to  enforce  his  opinions,  put  him  in  the  front  rank  in 
all  arduous  and  anxious  conflicts.* 

After  this  Constitution  had  been  adopted  by  the  people,  and 
had  gone  into  operation,  he  appeared  but  seldom  in  the  political 
assemblies  of  the  State.  The  ordinary  business  of  legislation 
was  not  of  importance  enough  in  his  mind  to  draw  him  from  a 
profitable  pursuit  of  his  profession,  which  Avas  necessary  for  the 
support  and  education  of  an  increasing  family.  Yet,  when  the 
seeds  of  disorder  sprang  up  in  the  community,  and  the  most  dan- 
gerous principles  of  disorganization  had  begun  to  spread,  he  was 
again  prevailed  upon  to  take  a  seat  in  the  Legislature,  where  his 
great  political  knowledge  and  his  peculiar  address  contributed 
largely  to  the  preservation  of  that  Constitution  he  had  done  so 
much  to  establish. 

But  another  great  national  revolution  occurred.    The  Constitu- 


*  It  is  not  generally  known,  that,  before  this  convention  of  the  peo- 
ple by  their  delegates  was  called  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  constitu- 
tion, the  existing  government,  which  was  exercised  by  a  convention,  in 
the  year  1777,  drew  up  the  form  of  a  constitution,  and  presented  it  to 
the  people  for  their  acceptance.  This  appeared  to  some  gentlemen  in 
the  county  of  Essex  so  loose  and  inefficient  in  its  texture,  that  they 
urged  a  representation  of  their  towns  in  a  county  convention,  which 
accordingly  met  in  1778  at  Ipswich.  Parsons  was  one  of  this  conven- 
tion. They  agreed  to  advise  the  towns  to  reject  the  constitution  which 
had  been  proposed.  A  committee  of  this  county  convention  was  ap- 
pointed to  take  into  consideration  the  proposed  constitution,  and  report 
thereon.  Parsons  was  upon  this  committee.  The  report  is  undoubt- 
edly his,  though  he  was  probably  aided  by  others,  at  least  with  their 
advice.  This  elaborate  report  is  called  the  "  Essex  Result" ;  and  it  con- 
tains an  able  discussion  of  the  principles  of  a  free  republic,  and  shows 
clearly  the  defects  of  the  proffered  form  of  government. 

The  people  rejected  the  constitution.  A  convention  was  called  for 
the  express  purpose  of  making  another,  which  was  finished  and  ac- 
cepted by  the  people  in  1780. 


416  APPENDIX. 

tion  of  the  United  States  was  presented  to  the  people  for  their 
approbation,  and  a  convention  of  delegates ,  from  the  several 
towns  in  this  Commonwealth  was  assembled  to  discuss  its  merits, 
and  adopt  or  reject  it.  This  was  the  crisis  of  life  or  death  to  the 
union  of  the  States,  and  ruin  or  prosperity  hung  upon  the  de- 
cision. Parsons  again  appeared  in  the  cause  of  order,  law,  and 
government,  the  cause  indeed  of  the  people,  though  they  did  not 
recognize  it ;  for  no  doubt  was  entertained  that,  at  the  first  meet- 
ing of  that  Convention,  a  great  majority  of  its  members  were 
predetermined  to  reject  the  Constitution.  I,  then  a  young  man, 
was  an  anxious  spectator  of  these  doings.  I  heard  there  the  cap- 
tivating eloquence  of  Ames,  the  polished  erudition  of  King,  the 
ardent  and  pathetic  appeals  of  Dana,  the  sagacious  and  concil- 
iating remarks  of  Strong,  and  the  arguments  of  other  eminent 
men  of  that  body ;  but  Parsons  appeared  to  rne  the  master-spirit 
of  that  assembly.  Upon  all  sudden  emergencies,  and  upon  plau- 
sible and  unexpected  objections,  he  was  the  sentinel  to  guard  the 
patriot  camp,  and  to  prevent  confusion  from  unexpected  assault, 
lie  labored  there  in  season  and  out  of  season,  the  whole  energies 
of  his  mind  being  bent  upon  the  successful  issue  of  a  question 
which  was,  he  believed,  to  determine  the  fate  of  his  country. 
This  finished  his  political  engagements,  except  some  few  years  in 
the  Legislature  at  subsequent  periods,  when  his  influence  was 
visible,  but  the  subjects  which  occurred  only  of  ordinary  import. 

But  though  he  was  only  occasionally  engaged  as  a  member  of 
the  Legislature,  he  yet  was  an  active  observer  of  public  measures, 
and  without  doubt  contributed  his  counsels  in  many  of  the  ar- 
rangements which  took  place.  His  political  friends  frequently 
sought  his  advice,  and  they  always  found  him  perfectly  acquainted 
with  passing  events,  and  ready  to  communicate  his  opinions. 

More  has  been  imputed  to  him  on  the  score  of  political  influ- 
ence than  was  true.  By  those  who  felt  the  weight  of  his  charac- 
ter without  enjoying  his  confidence,  it  was  believed,  or  at  least 
asserted,  that  he  dictated  most  of  the  measures  which  his  political 
friends  adopted.  From  seven  years'  most  intimate  and  confiden- 
tial intercourse  witli  him,  I  can  testify  that  his  influence  has  not 
been  exerted  during  that  period  in  projecting  public  measures; 
that  it  appeared  only  in  giving  advice  when  solicited  for  it ;  and 
that,  if  his  opinions  were  adopted,  it  was  not  from  any  authority 
claimed  by  him  or  submitted  to  by  others,  but  because  they  were 
deemed  wise  and  beneficial. 


JUDGE  PARKER'S  ADDRESS.  417 

He  was  undoubtedly  a  bold  politician,  and  on  any  interesting 
crisis  his  system  was  to  take  the  ground  which  he  thought  was 
right,  and  maintain  it  without  regard  to  the  difficulties  to  be  en- 
countered, and  especially  never  to  be  deterred  by  fear  of  unpop- 
ularity. This  sometimes  led  even  his  friends  to  think  that  his 
political  courage  partook  of  temerity,  and  that  he  overlooked 
expediency  in  pursuit  of  right.  But  it  not  unfrequently  hap- 
pened that  the  difference  between  them  was  owing  to  his  greater 
share  of  political  foresight,  or  to  his  instantaneous  perception  of 
what  the  times  and  circumstances  required. 

In  his  political  as  well  as  in  his  judicial  character,  there  was  an 
apparent  suddenness  of  opinion,  which  at  the  moment  seemed 
precipitancy,  but  which  has  in  most  instances  been  discovered  to 
be  the  effect  of  a  process  of  reasoning  astonishingly  rapid,  or  the 
immediate  decision  of  judgment  upon  facts  and  principles  stored 
in  his  memory,  and  always  ready  for  use.  Instances  could  be 
adduced  in  which  his  friends  have  rejected  his  opinions  from  a 
doubt  of  their  correctness,  and  yet  have  been  necessarily  brought, 
by  the  course  of  events  which  he  had  the  sagacity  to  foresee,  to 
the  very  point  from  which  they  had  prudently,  as  they  thought, 
receded. 

I  add,  that  I  most  sincerely  believe  that  he  had  no  private  or 
personal  views  to  gratify,  and  that  his  sole  object  was  the  perma- 
nent interest  and  prosperity  of  his  country. 

You  will  spare  me  a  few  moments,  while  I  briefly  exhibit  to 
you  the  private  character  of  this  distinguished  man.  He  was 
just,  regular,  and  punctual  in  all  his  transactions.  Simplicity 
and  order  presided  over  his  household.  Hospitality,  without  os- 
tentation or  ceremony,  reigned  within  his  mansion.  Domestic 
tranquillity  and  cheerfulness  beamed  from  his  countenance,  and 
was  reflected  back  upon  him  from  his  happy  and  delighted  fam- 
ily. It  has  been  the  misfortune  of  many,  if  not  most,  of  those 
who  have  been  devoted  to  literature,  and  who  have  attained 
great  celebrity,  to  have  been  so  much  absorbed  in  grave  contem- 
plations as  to  acquire  a  distaste  to  those  charities  of  life  which 
are  the  sources  of  its  happiness,  or  to  become  insensible  to  the 
ordinary  excitements  to  recreation  and  pleasure.  It  was  not  so 
with  Parsons.  He  was  great  even  in  common  affairs.  His  con- 
versation could  instruct  or  amuse,  as  times  and  seasons  suited. 
Neither  philosophers  nor  children  could  leave  his  society  without 
27 


418  APPENDIX. 

being  improved  or  entertained.  Amid  the  multifarious  occupa- 
tions of  his  mind  in  business  and  scientific  pursuits,  he  had  still 
found  room  for  all  the  lighter  literature,  and  was  ready  with  his 
critique  even  upon  the  ephemeral  works  of  fancy  and  of  taste. 
The  more  solid  productions  of  polite  literature  had  passed  the 
ordeal  of  his  judgment,  so  that  his  materials  for  social  converse 
•were  abundant,  and  his  power  of  using  them  unlimited.  Indeed, 
his  memory  may  be  considered  a  capacious  storehouse,  separated 
into  an  infinite  number  of  apartments,  in  which  principles,  facts, 
and  anecdotes  were  laid  up  according  to  their  classes,  marked 
and  numbered,  so  that  he  could  draw  them  out  and  appropriate 
them  whenever  occasion  offered,  without  confusion  or  misapplica- 
tion. His  conversation  was  illumined  with  flashes  of  wit  and 
merriment,  which  captivated  his  hearers,  and  rendered  him  at 
the  same  time  the  most  edifying  and  the  most  entertaining  of 
companions.  He  was  accessible,  familiar,  and  communicative, 
never  morose  or  ill-natured,  a  patron  of  literature  and  literary 
men,  a  warm  friend  to  the  clergy  and  to  the  institutions  of  relig- 
ion and  learning,  and  a  most  ardent  admirer  and  promoter  of 
merit  among  the  young.*  He  was  not  an  avaricious  man  ;  for, 
after  a  long  life  of  labor  in  a  lucrative  profession,  with  as  much 
opportunity  as  was  ever  enjoyed  to  amass  riches,  he  has  left  no 
greater  estate  than  is  frequently  accumulated  by  a  prudent  and 
respectable  tradesman. 

The  man  whom  he  most  resembled  in  powers  of  mind  could  be 
brilliant  and  astonishing,  when  surrounded  by  kindred  spirits,  and 
spurred  on  to  intellectual  conflicts ;  but  when  the  tournament  was 
over,  he  retired  with  exhausted  spirits  and  debilitated  mind,  and 

*  The  zealous  attention  of  the  Chief  Justice  to  the  interests  of  the 
College,  while  he  was  a  member  of  the  Corporation,  was  generally 
known.  But  his  care  for  the  interests  of  literature  was  in  other  ways 
exemplified.  lie  had  been  for  three  years  one  of  the  supervisory  com- 
mittee of  a  grammar  school,  kept  by  Mr.  Clap  of  this  town.  I  have 
attended  the  examinations  of  the  scholars,  at  all  of  which  the  Chief 
Justice  was  present.  lie  generally  took  the  lead  in  the  examination, 
and  discovered  such  a  critical  knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  lan- 
guages as  surprised  everybody.  His  presence  was  useful  in  other  re- 
spects ;  for  he  so  interested  and  amused  the  boys  with  anecdotes  con- 
cerning the  men  and  the  tiroes  about  which  they  were  reading,  as  to 
render  their  examinations  pleasant,  instead  of  being  formidable  to  them. 


JUDGE  PARKER'S  ADDRESS.  4^9 

sunk  into  the  gloom  of  superstition  and  the  horrors  of  self-con- 
demnation. But  Parsons  could  leave  the  theological  controversy, 
the  mathematical  problem,  or  the  legal  inquiry,  and  enter  at 
once  with  spirit  and  interest  into  domestic  conversation,  and  even 
into  children's  sports.  When  fatigued  with  the  labor  of  deep 
legal  research,  or  exhausted  by  a  continued  train  of  thought 
upon  one  subject,  it  was  not  uncommon  for  him  to  relax  his  mind 
with  some  abstruse  arithmetical  or  geometrical  demonstration,  or 
to  turn  over  the  pages  of  some  popular  and  interesting  novel. 
And,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  true,  that  from  his  earliest 
years  to  the  latter  season  of  his  life  these  two  sources  of  amuse- 
ment were  constantly  enjoyed  by  him.* 

I  know  that  I  am  in  danger  of  being  thought  so  infatuated  with 
admiration,  as  to  exaggerate  his  talents,  or  at  least  to  give  them 
too  high  a  coloring.  But  death  has  destroyed  all  motives  for  flat- 
tery, if  any  could  have  existed,  and  a  month's  interval  has  given 
opportunity  to  reflect  upon  the  folly  of  overstrained  praise.  I 
confess,  the  more  I  contemplate  his  character,  the  more  I  revere 
it.  To  some  of  its  strongest  points  I  consider  myself  a  witness, 
and  should  disdain  to  pass  beyond  the  limits  of  truth.  In  rela- 
tion to  his  professional  and  public  judicial  character,  I  speak  in 
the  presence  of  men  who  are  witnesses  as  well  as  myself.  As  to 
his  classical  and  literary  acquirements,  I  profess  not  to  judge, 
except  from  the  testimony  of  those  best  qualified  to  decide.  I 
can  appeal  with  confidence  to  the  learned  and  reverend  govern- 
ors of  our  University,  who  for  more  than  ten  years  have  enjoyed 
the  benefit  of  his  counsels,  and  witnessed  the  depth  of  his  learn- 
ing. For  his  mathematical  and  philosophical  eminence,  I  could 
summon  the  chosen  professors  of  those  branches,  and  I  could  add 

*  Judge  Tudor,  who  was  the  classmate  of  the  Chief  Justice  in  col- 
lege, and,  in  the  college  phrase,  his  chum,  has  frequently  told  me,  that, 
after  the  usual  exercises,  Parsons  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  his  slate 
and  amusing  himself  with  some  deep  mathematical  calculation,  and 
that  he  would  vary  his  recreation  by  reading  some  tale  or  novel ;  it 
seeming  indifferent  to  him  which  of  these  amusements  first  fell  in  his 
way.  I  have,  within  the  last  seven  years  of  his  life,  found  him  indulg- 
ing the  same  propensity,  finding  him  with  his  slate  and  pencil  so  deeply 
engaged  that  I  would  not  disturb  him  for  some  minutes  after  my  en- 
trance, and  not  unfrcqucutly  as  deeply  engaged  in  some  modern  novel, 
or  other  work  of  fancy. 


420  APPENDIX. 

to  them  the  modest  and  scientific  Bowditch.*     For  his  knowledge 

o 

in  astronomy,  mechanics,  chemistry,  and  electricity,  I  would  ven- 
ture to  call  the  most  distinguished  masters  we  have  in  those  sev- 
eral branches,  and  I  believe  the  testimony  from  each  witness 
would  be,  that  Parsons  was  great  in  each  particular  department. 

Should  any  one  ask,  Had  this  great  man  no  faults,  no  foibles  ? 
I  answer,  he  had,  for  he  was  a  man ;  but  none  which  ought  to 
enter  into  a  candid  estimation  of  his  character.  I  leave  them  to 
those  who  are  hardy  enough  to  violate  the  sanctity  of  the  tomb 
for  the  purpose  of  magnifying  and  exposing  them. 

That  such  a  man  as  this,  whose  mind  had  never  been  at  rest, 
and  whose  body  had  seldom  been  in  exercise,  should  have  lived 
to  the  age  of  sixty-three,  is  rather  a  matter  of  astonishment,  than 
that  he  should  then  have  died. 

At  this  distance  from  the  period  of  his  death,  when  the  first 
painful  sensations  at  so  great  a  loss  have  subsided,  it  is  not  un- 
suitable to  take  consolation  from  the  possible,  if  not  probable,  con- 
sequences of  a  prolonged  life.  Beyond  the  age  at  which  he  had 
arrived,  I  do  not  know  that  an  instance  exists  of  an  improvement 
of  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  but  many  present  themselves  of 
deplorable  decay  and  humiliating  debility.  An  opposite  example 
exists  in  the  case  of  that  venerable  Judge  Trowbridge,  whom  I 
have  had  occasion  to  mention  before  in  this  address.  The  last 
twenty  years  of  his  life  passed  in  almost  entire  forgetfulncss  of 
and  by  the  world.  Should  it  not  be  considered  a  happy,  rather 
than  a  lamentable  event,  to  escape  the  infirmities,  the  disabilities, 
and  perhaps  the  neglects  of  a  protracted  old  age  ?  Parsons  died 
in  the  zenith  of  his  reputation,  in  the  strength  of  his  understand- 
ing ;  and,  so  dying,  has  left  a  legacy  to  his  children  and  to  the 
public,  in  his  character,  more  valuable  than  cxhaustless  riches. 

The  testimony  he  bore,  too,  to  the  truth  of  the  Christian  revc- 

*  Mr.  Bowditch,  in  his  Practical  Navigator,  on  the  subject  of  lunar 
observations,  speaking  of  a  method  of  correcting  the  apparent  distance 
of  the  moon  from  the  sun,  says  :  "  It  is  an  improvement  on  "Witchell's 
method,  and  was  made  in  consequence  of  a  suggestion  from  a  gentle- 
man eminently  distinguished  for  his  mathematical  acquirements  "  ;  and 
by  a  note  referred  to  in  this  passage,  Chief  Justice  Parsons  is  the  gen- 
tleman alluded  to.  Mr.  Bowditch  also  received  some  communications 
from  him,  on  the  subject  of  the  comet  which  lust  made  its  appearance 
in  our  hemisphere,  which  showed  ingenuity  and  learning. 


JUDGE  PARKER'S  ADDRESS.  421 

lation  should  furnish  a  consolation  for  his  death.  It  was  the  tes- 
timony of  a  most  exalted  human  intellect,  unclouded  by  the 
apprehensions  of  death,  and  unobscured  by  superstition.  It  was 
declared  repeatedly  in  the  best  state  of  his  health,  and  confirmed 
in  the  serene  contemplation  of  his  expected  change.  It  was  the 
result  of  a  trial  of  witnesses,  in  which  professional  acuteness  was 
aided  by  native  powers  of  discrimination.  He  has  left  written 
evidence  of  the  conclusion  his  penetrating  mind  had  formed  upon 
this  all-interesting  inquiry.  It  may  seem  unbecoming  in  a  Chris- 
tian to  place  much  reliance  upon  human  authority  for  his  hopes 
of  immortality  and  happiness.  But  a  great  portion  of  the  world 
is  governed  by  authority,  and  when  some  few  great  men  have 
published  their  scepticism,  and  thus  given  confidence  to  the  infi- 
del of  inferior  understanding,  it  is  comforting  to  the  sincere  and 
humble  believer  to  be  able  to  add  the  name  of  Parsons  to  the 
long  list  of  great  and  good  men  who  have  given  their  living  and 
dying  testimony  to  the  religion  they  profess.* 

*  About  three  months  before  the  Chief  Justice  died,  I  had  a  con- 
versation with  him  upon  the  subject  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  par- 
ticularly upon  the  proofs  of  the  resurrection  contained  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament. He  told  me  that  he  felt  the  most  perfect  satisfaction  on  that 
subject;  that  he  had  once  taken  it  up  with  a  view  to  ascertain  the 
weight  of  the  evidence  by  comparing  the  accounts  given  by  the  four 
Evangelists  with  each  other ;  and  that,  from  their  agreement  in  all  sub- 
stantial and  important  facts,  as  well  as  their  disagreement  in  minor 
circumstances,  considering  them  all  as  separate  and  independent  wit- 
nesses, giving  their  testimony  at  different  periods,  he  believed  that  the 
evidence  would  be  considered  perfect,  if  the  question  was  tried  at  any 
human  tribunal.  I  then  did  not  know  that  he  had  made  a  public  pro- 
fession of  his  belief  by  becoming  a  member  of  any  church,  and  I  asked 
him  why  he  had  not  thus  testified  his  belief.  He  told  me  that  lie  had 
postponed  it  a  great  while,  because,  as  the  general  state  of  his  health 
and  his  fear  of  exposing  himself  to  the  cold  and  damp  air  would  pre- 
vent him  from  attending  public  worship  constantly,  and  from  those 
causes  he  might  be  frequently  absent  on  communion  days,  he  was  ap- 
prehensive he  might  be  thought  not  to  act  up  to  his  profession ;  but 
that,  two  or  three  years  ago,  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  do  his  duty 
in  joining  the  church,  and  as  much  of  his  duty  as  he  could  in  attending 
upon  the  ordinance ;  and  he  accordingly  joined  the  church  of  which 
President  Kirkland  was  then  the  pastor. 

A  similar  conversation  was  held  by  him  with  the  Kev.  Mr.  Thacher 


422  APPENDIX. 

May  the  life  and  celebrity  of  this  great  man  stimulate  the 
young  to  diligence  and  perseverance  in  their  studies,  so  that,  at 
some  future  time,  one  may  rise  up  from  among  them  fit  to  supply 
his  place  in  public  estimation. 

May  his  pre-eminent  qualifications  for  the  judicial  magistracy, 
•which  cannot  be  reached  by  his  fellow-lal>orers,  incite  them  to 
greater  zeal,  labor,  and  attention,  so  that  the  chasm  made  by  his 
death  may  be  the  less  observed.  And  may  his  departure  impress 
us  all  with  solemn  and  suitable  reflections  upon  the  vanity  of  all 
human  attainments  compared  with  that  wisdom  which  cometh 
from  above,  whose  ways  are  pleasantness,  and  whose  end  is  ever- 
lastin«r  life. 


While  this  Address  was  passing  through  the  press,  the  following 
letter  was  received,  and  the  testimony  it  contains  cannot  fail  to 
gratify  the  public. 

"  Cambridge,  1st  December,  1813. 
"Mv  DEAR  SIR: 

"  Since  I  handed  you  the  note  containing  the  testimonial  of 
Professor  Luzac  to  our  venerated  friend's  rank  as  a  proficient  in 
Greek  learning,  I  have  received  a  letter  from  my  respected  friend 
Vandcrkemp,  from  which  I  extract  the  following. 

"  '  We  have  then  lost  that  ornament  of  the  bench,  that  brilliant 
gem  of  your  country.  The  Giant  of  the  Law,  the  polished  Greek 
scholar,  is  gone.  I  knew  him.  I  had  learned  to  revere  him 
through  my  friend  Luzac.  You  introduced  me  to  him,  and  he 
afterwards  honored  me  by  visiting  me  three  times  at  my  lodgings 
in  Boston.  For  this  I  was  indebted  to  my  deceased  Luzac,  whom 

during  his  late  sickness,  through  the  whole  of  which  he  evinced  a  pa- 
tience and  resignation  which,  considering  his  extreme  nervous  irrita- 
bility and  apprehensions  of  disease  when  in  his  best  state  of  health, 
can  be  accounted  for  only  by  the  enlightened  and  satisfactory  hopes  lie 
entertained  of  a  happy  immortality.  It  ought  to  be  highly  consolatory 
to  his  friends  to  know,  that  lie  whom  they  had  seen  to  shrink  at  an  east- 
ern breeze,  and  to  start  at  the  slightest  pain,  should,  at  the  certain  ap- 
proach of  the  king  of  terrors,  collect  all  the  energies  of  his  wonderful 
mind,  and  contemplate  his  approaching  dissolution  with  as  much  steadi- 
ness and  composure  as  he  would  many  of  the  ordinary  events  of  life. 


OBITUARY  NOTICE.  423 

ho.  respected.  I  flattered  myself  that  I  should  yet  gather  a  rich 
harvest  from  his  acquaintance  ;  and  he  seemed  inclined  not  to 
disappoint  me.  "Make  my  compliments  to  Mrs.  V.,"  —  these 
were  his  last  words  to  me,  —  "  and  tell  her  she  ought  to  command 
you  to  return  soon  to  Boston."  Such  a  delicate  compliment  from 
a  Parsons  was  a  treasure  to  an  epicurean  in  regard  of  praise.' 

"  The  good  man  then  indulges  his  hopes,  in  a  strain  of  enthu- 
siasm, that  the  excellent  properties  of  our  deceased  luminary 
may  excite  the  emulation  of  professors  of  the  law  who  survive 
him,  and  of  those  who  may  hereafter  arise. 

"  I  am,  dear  Sir,  your  most  obliged  servant, 

"D.  A.  TYNG." 


No.  III. 
OBITUARY    NOTICE. 

[FROM  THE  BOSTON  GAZETTE  OF  NOVEMBER  4TH,  1813.] 

[Tin-:  following  brief  sketch  of  the  character  of  the  Honorable 
Theophilus  Parsons  is  copied  from  the  last  Palladium.  It  is 
a  chaste  and  unadorned  commentary  on  the  life  of  a  man  who 
had  lived  only  to  be  useful ;  who  had  practised  all  the  liberal 
and  social  virtues ;  and  who  died  in  the  full  and  confident 
belief,  "  that  there  was  another  and  a  brighter  u-orld."^ 

THK  death  of  this  great  man  will  be  universally  felt,  and 
ought  to  be  universally  lamented  throughout  our  State.  The 
station  he  has  occupied  for  the  last  seven  years  has  given  oppor- 
tunity to  all  classes  of  people,  in  all  parts  of  the  Commonwealth, 
to  see  and  hear  the  man  whose  fame  had  before  reached  their 
ears,  and  whose  eminent  professional  talents  had  acquired  to 
him,  from  common  suffrage,  the  reputation  of  being  the  greatest 
lawyer  of  his  day.  This  reputation  was  not  confined  to  our  own 
State,  but  had  spread  into  the  adjoining  States,  and  even  to  the 
most  remote  parts  of  the  Union  ;  at  least  to  all  those  parts  where 


424  APPENDIX. 

the  law  is  known  as  a  science,  and  where  its  distinguished  sages, 
of  whatever  country,  are  reverenced  and  admired.  The  cele- 
brated jurists,  who  have  occasionally  visited  this  metropolis  to 
administer  the  laws  of  the  nation,  Jay,  Chase,  Patterson,  and 
others,  have  all  passed  their  judgments  upon  his  legal  charac- 
ter, and  have  pronounced  him  "  the  Great  Lawyer."  And  most 
strangers  of  distinction,  who  have  travelled  into  this  quarter  for 
curiosity  or  information,  have  been  led,  by  his  fame,  to  visit 
and  converse  with  him,  and  have  uniformly  sanctioned  common 
report,  by  their  testimony  to  his  greatness.  With  this  uncommon 
celebrity  he  entered  upon  the  first  judicial  office  in  this  State  ; 
and  whatever  admiration  he  had  excited  as  a  lawyer,  was  imme- 
diately transferred  to  him  as  a  judge.  Commencing  his  career 
soon  after  a  new  and  improved  system  of  judicature  had  been 
adopted,  the  effect  of  his  administration  was  instantly  perceived 
in  the  despatch  of  business,  in  the  promptness  and  wisdom  of  his 
opinions,  and  in  the  universal  confidence  they  inspired.  The 
most  eminent  counsellors  seldom  hesitated  to  submit  and  to  be 
convinced  when  he  declared  the  law,  the  juries  felt  no  uncer- 
tainty or  doubt  when  he  had  addressed  them,  and  the  suitors 
saw  with  satisfaction  their  expenses  diminished,  their  delay 
shortened,  and  the  time  of  the  public  economized,  by  the  exer- 
tion of  his  wonderful  faculties  in  the  discharge  of  his  official 
functions. 

When  associated  upon  the  bench  with  his  brethren,  to  hear 
and  determine  questions  of  law  of  great  import  to  the  public  and 
to  individuals,  his  profound  yet  familiar  acquaintance  with  the 
principles  of  the  common  law,  his  astonishing  recollection  of 
usages  and  precedents  not  to  be  found  in  print,  and  his  precise 
and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  forms  of  pleadings  and  of  the. 
course  of  proceedings  in  the  courts  of  the  country  from  whence 
all  we  have  to  boast  of  in  this  regard  is  derived,  gave  a  stability 
and  respect  to  decisions  honorable  to  the  judicial  character  of  the 
State,  and  useful  to  posterity  as  well  as  to  the  present  genera- 
tion. His  readings  upon  many  of  the  old  statutes,  and  learned 
construction  of  those  of  modern  date,  being  recorded  in  our 
books  of  lleports,  will  long  stand  as  monuments  of  his  deep  legal 
and  technical  knowledge,  his  enlarged  and  liberal  views  of  the 
principles  of  government  and  laws,  and  his  acute  and  pene- 
trating powers  of  discrimination. 


OBITUARY  NOTICE.  425 

In  the  development  of  his  character  as  a  judge,  we  see  that 
he  drew  to  his  aid  almost  all  the  literature  and  the  science 
which  the  human  mind  can  embrace.  Metaphysics,  mathe- 
ernatics,  natural  philosophy,  and  even  theology,  opened  their 
sources  of  information  to  his  comprehensive  mind,  and  in  classic 
learning  there  were  few,  if  any,  who  ought  not  to  admit  his 
superiority. 

But  it  was  not  only  in  his  judicial  capacity  that  the  com- 
munity has  been  benefited  by  his  powers.  He  has  been  at 
times,  though  always  reluctantly,  prevailed  on  to  take  a  share 
in  the  political  arrangements  of  the  State.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  convention  which  formed  our  State  Constitution,  of  that 
which  adopted  the  National  Compact,  and  in  several  instances 
of  our  House  of  Representatives ;  in  all  which  situations  his 
sagacity,  political  foresight,  and  historical  information  were  dis- 
cerned by  the  wisest  men,  and  used  for  the  public  good. 

He  was  a  republican  in  principle,  and  his  works  show  it,  for 
he  has  given  his  powerful  aid  in  all  those  establishments  which 
are  intended  to  secure  the  Republic.  lie  never  condescended 
to  flatter  the  people  or  their  rulers  ;  but,  while  ready  to  set 
bounds  to  the  power  of  the  latter,  he  was  desirous  also  to  provide 
checks  and  remedies  to  the  instability  and  caprice  of  the  former. 
He  well  knew  the  temper  and  disposition  of  man  in  all  civil 
societies,  ancient  as  well  as  modern,  and  knew  that  the  purpose 
of  government  was  to  correct  and  restrain  his  passions.  In  all 
his  political  labors,  therefore,  he  applied  the  lessons  of  expe- 
rience ;  and  with  a  strength  of  argument  and  force  of  reasoning 
which  never  could  be  combated  with  success,  and  which  not 
unfrequently  confounded  and  defeated  the  arts  of  his  opponents, 
he  was  in  many  important  instances  the  happy  instrument  of 
the  triumph  of  truth  over  passion,  and  discretion  over  zeal. 
Instead  of  yielding  to  the  popular  current  in  times  of  agita- 
tion and  frenzy,  his  patriotism  was  shown  in  breasting  the  dan- 
gerous flood,  and  presenting  himself  as  a  mound  to  resist  its 
force,  until  it  should  subside  into  safe  channels,  and  until  calm- 
ness and  tranquillity  should  be  restored.  He  was  one  of  the 
few  men  who  fearlessly  told  the  people  the  truth  where  it  was 
offensive  to  their  cars,  trusting  to  the  return  of  reason  for  his 
vindication,  or  willing  to  hazard  every  sacrifice  in  its  cause.  He 
was  inflexibly  engaged  in  the  support  of  sound  principles,  and 


426  APPENDIX. 

despised  the  threats  and  reproaches  of  the  numerous  pretenders 
to  patriotism,  who  have  from  time  to  time  cajoled  the  people 
into  measures  disgraceful  and  ruinous.  For  thirty  years  past 
this  class  of  men  have  feared  him,  and  they  ought  to,  for  he 
was  "  a  terror  to  evil-doers,"  but  he  was  also  "  a  praise  and 
encouragement  to  such  as  do  well,"  and  he  had  therefore  the 
esteem,  veneration,  aud  love  of  the  sound  part  of  the  com- 
munity. 

Such  a  man  could  never,  in  the  common  understanding  of 
the  phrase,  be  a  popular  man.  He  knew  not  the  arts  of  popu- 
larity, and  never  sought  it.  But  the  influence  derived  from  a 
deep  sense  of  superior  worth,  from  profound  reverence  of  his  wis- 
dom, and  from  unqualified  reliance  upon  his  integrity,  was  his  ; 
and  it  was  used  for  the  great  purposes  of  giving  supremacy  to 
the  laws,  and  durability  to  the  government,  the  only  means  of 
establishing  and  maintaining  public  liberty.  However  obnoxious 
the  stern  tenor  of  his  political  life  may  have  been  to  those  whose 
purposes  have  been  defeated  by  his  persevering  exposition  of 
truth,  yet  even  these  will  not  deny  him  the  credit  of  intrepidity, 
frankness,  and  incomparable  ability  in  his  contests  with  them. 

The  loss  of  such  a  man,  at  this  time,  ought  to  strike  us  with 
dismay,  did  we  not  trust  in  Divine  Providence,  which  in  former 
days  has  raised  up  new  props  and  pillars  of  the  State,  in  the 
room  of  those  which  it  has  seen  fit  to  remove. 

A  newspaper's  limits  are  too  narrow  to  admit  even  a  sketch 
of  the  various  excellences  of  the  deceased.  It  requires  the 
deliberate  lalx>rs  of  a  biographer. 

But  what  he  has  done  in  the  cause  of  literature  ought  not 
even  here  to  be  omitted.  For  many  years  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Corporation  of  Harvard  College.  He  imparted  wisdom  and 
vigor  to  their  councils,  energy  to  their  government,  and  eflicacy 
to  the  studies  they  prescribed.  His  associates  were  men  capable 
of  discerning  his  greatness,  and  were  great  enough  themselves  to 
acknowledge  it.  He  claimed  no  authority  but  that  of  reason 
and  wisdom,  to  which  they  as  well  as  he  were  always  ready  to 
submit.  His  regard  for  religion  as  well  as  literature  was  also 
shown  by  his  attention  to  clergymen  of  every  denomination, 
many  of  whom  have  lost  in  him  a  zealous  patron  aud  friend. 

In  private  life  he  was  not  so  much  known,  and  therefore 
probably  much  misunderstood.  So  great  a  man  abroad,  would 


OBITUARY  NOTICE.  427 

naturally  be  suspected  of  an  uncomfortable  greatness  at  home. 
But  the  reverse  of  this  is  true.  His  friends  know  that  there 
never  was  a  more  amiable,  kind,  and  affectionate  head  of  a  fam- 
ily. Wit,  humor,  facctiousness,  combined  in  him  to  relieve  the 
fatigue  of  moral  lessons  and  grave  discourse.  His  power  of  con- 
versation was  equal  to  his  other  powers.  His  facility  of  com- 
municating knowledge  has  been  equalled  only  by  his  diligence 
in  obtaining  it.  All  participated  of  his  knowledge,  for  he  lived 
not  to  himself,  but  was  ready  to  give  freely  to  others  what  had 
cost  him  severe  labor  to  acquire.  Xo  man  ever  loved  more,  or 
was  more  loved  by,  his  family. 

We  should  speak  of  his  charities,  but  they  had  better  be  left, 
as  he  would  have  left  them,  unspoken  of,  except  by  those  worthy 
objects  who,  having  been  deprived  of  their  earthly  support,  are 
now  living  in  ease  on  the  fruits  of  benevolence  which  he  was  the 
happy  instrument  of  procuring. 

In  his  last  sickness  he  displayed  the  fortitude,  resignation, 
and  composure  of  a  Christian  philosopher.  He  died  in  the  full 
faith  of  the  Christian  Revelation,  having  frequently  declared  to 
the  writer,  that  he  had  examined  its  testimonies  with  a  lawyer's 
accuracy,  and  that  the  examination  had  resulted  in  an  entire 
conviction  of  its  truth.  This  same  sentiment  he  expressed  to 
the  reverend  friend  who  comforted  and  consoled  him  on  his 
death-bed,  in  some  of  the  last  conversations  he  was  able  to 
hold. 

Thus  has  passed  away  a  man  in  every  respect  valuable  to 
the  community.  May  his  example,  and  the  memory  of  his  great- 
ness, be  the  means  of  raising  up  others  to  adorn  and  support  the 
important  institutions  of  our  country ! 


428  APPENDIX. 


No.    IV. 
ESSAY   ON  PARALLEL   LINES. 

BY  TIIEOPIIILUS  PARSONS. 

REMARKS  ox  THE  TWEXTY-XIXTH  TIIKORKM  ix  THE  FIRST 
BOOK  OF   EUCLID'S   ELKMKXTS  OF  GEOMETRY. 

EUCLID,  in  the  Twenty-ninth  Theorem  in  the  First  Book  of 
his  Elements  of  Geometry,  proposes  to  demonstrate,  that  a  right 
line,  intersecting  two  parallel  right  lines,  makes  the  alternate 
angles  equal,  —  the  exterior  angle  equal  to  the  interior  opposite 
angle  on  the  same  side  of  the  intersecting  line,  —  and  that  the 
interior  angles  on  the  same  side  of  the  intersecting  line,  taken 
together,  are  equal  to  two  right  angles.  To  demonstrate  this 
theorem,  the  author  has  assumed  as  an  axiom  in  geometry  self- 
evident,  and  not  requiring  any  demonstration,  the  proposition, 
that,  if  a  right  line  meets  two  right  lines,  making  the  two  interior 
angles  on  the  same  side,  taken  together,  less  than  two  right 
angles,  these  two  right  lines,  being  continually  produced,  shall 
meet  upon  that  side  on  which  arc  the  two  angles  which  arc  less 
than  two  right  angles.  This  proposition,  not  being  self-evident, 
but  admitting  a  demonstration,  ought  not  to  be  received  as  an 
axiom  ;  and,  as  Dr.  Simpson  observes,  it  has  given  ancient 
and  modern  geometers  much  to  do.  A  demonstration  of  this 
twenty-ninth  proposition  has  been  attempted  in  several  ways  ;  — 
by  demonstrating  Euclid's  axiom ;  by  assuming  some  new  axiom ; 
by  introducing  new  definitions ;  or  by  reasoning  from  the  defi- 
nitions already  given,  without  the  aid  of  any  axiom.  In  looking 
into  the  subject,  it  appeared  surprising  to  me,  that  there  should 
exist  any  difliculty  in  demonstrating  a  theorem  so  manifestly 
true,  if  there  were  no  defect  in  the  definitions.  To  amuse  a 
vacant  hour,  I  have  examined  these  definitions  with  some  atten- 
tion ;  and  I  have  supposed  that  a  new  definition  of  parallel  right 
lines,  derived  from  Dr.  Reid's  definition  of  a  right  line,  may  be 
given,  which  will  remove  all  difficulty  from  the  subject. 

Let  us  then  examine  some  of  the  first  elementary  definitions 
of  geometry. 


ESSAY  ON  PARALLEL  LINES.  \  429 

Professor  Playfair  defines  a  point  to  be  that  -winch  has  position, 
but  not  magnitude.  By  having  no  magnitude,  it  lias  neither 
length,  breadth,  nor  thickness.  By  having  position,  it  is  suscep- 
tible of  change  of  place.  And  when  two  points  meet,  they  have 
the  same  position.  A  line  is  length,  without  breadth  or  thick- 
ness. A  point  being  moved,  its  path,  whatever  may  be  its  direc- 
tion, will  have  length,  but  will  not  have  breadth  or  thickness, 
because  a  point  has  none.  A  line  may  therefore  be  conceived  as 
produced  by  the  motion  of  a  point,  and  will  have  position. 

A  superficies  is  that  which  has  length  and  breadth,  but  not 
thickness ;  and  it  may  be  conceived  as  produced  by  the  motion 
of  a  line,  and  will  have  position. 

Among  these  definitions,  we  have  a  line  defined  as  a  genus  of 
magnitude.  And  it  is  self-evident,  that,  when  a  line  has  limits, 
those  limits  are  points  ;  and  that  the  place  of  the  intersection  of 
two  lines  is  a  point. 

But  lines  are  of  different  species,  the  general  division  of  which 
is  into  the  right  line,  and  the  curve  line ;  and  an  adequate  defi- 
nition of  the  right  line  is  required.  Euclid  has  defined  a  right 
line  to  be  a  line  which  lies  equally  between  its  extreme  points. 
By  this  definition,  it  has  been  observed  by  geometers,  that  we 
have  no  direct  knowledge  of  a  right  line.  If  it  be  asked,  When 
does  a  line  lie  equally  between  its  extreme  points  ?  Euclid  will 
furnish  no  answer.  The  most  obvious  one  is,  When  it  is  a  right 
line.  But  this  is  defining  in  a  circle.  Euclid  has  given  no  gen- 
eral definition  of  a  curve  line,  of  which  there  are  several  species. 
And  the  only  general  definition  seems  to  be,  that  a  curve  line 
is  a  line  no  part  of  which  is  a  right  line.  But  geometers,  in 
defining  any  species  of  curve  line,  deduce  the  definition  either 
by  its  mechanical  construction,  or  by  comparing  it  to  some  point 
or  line  not  in  the  curve.  Euclid  has  defined  but  one  species  of 
curve,  —  the  circumference  of  a  circle  ;  and  his  definition  results 
from  comparing  the  curve  to  a  point  within  the  circle.  Why 
then  are  we  to  suppose  that  a  right  line  can  be  defined,  without 
a  reference  to  a  point  or  line  without  it  ?  Dr.  Eeid  concludes 
from  Euclid's  demonstration  of  the  first  theorem  in  his  Eleventh 
Book,  that,  in  defining  a  right  line,  Euclid  compares  it  with 
another  line.  But  Euclid  has  nowhere  given  a  definition,  in  any 
form,  of  a  right  line,  by  comparing  it  with  another  line  ;  and  for 
this  definition  we  are  indebted  to  Dr.  Reid. 


430  APPENDIX. 

Dr.  Reid's  definition  substantially  is,  "  that  two  lines,  which 
must  wholly  ..aite  when  any  two  points  in  one  line  unite  with 
two  points  in  the  other,  are  right  lines."  The  converse  of  this 
definition  is  also  true,  —  "  that  two  right  lines  must  wholly  unite, 
if  any  two  points  in  one  right  line  unite  with  two  points  in  the 
other."  As  it  is  supposed  by  the  definition,  that  two  lines  sepa- 
rately exist  before  their  union,  it  may  be  illustrated  by  a  diagram, 
Fig.  I.  Let  A  B  and  C  D  be  two  lines.  Let  m  and  n  be  any 
two  points  in  the  line  A  B.  Let  the  line  A  B  be  so  moved  that 
the  points  m  and  n  be  united  to  o  and  p,  two  points  in  the  line 
C  D.  Then  if  the  line  A  B  must  wholly  unite  with  the  line  C  D, 
those  two  lines  are  right  lines.  And  e  converse,  let  m  and  n  be 
any  two  points  in  the  right  line  A  B,  and  o  and  p  be  points  so 
assumed  in  the  right  line  C  D,  that  when  the  point  m  is  united  to 
the  point  0,  and  the  point  n  is  united  to  the  point  p,  then  the 
right  lines  A  B  and  C  D  must  wholly  unite.  And  the  only 
restriction  in  the  assuming  of  the  point  is,  that  the  line  op  must 
be  equal  to  the  line  m  n. 


C  — 


Similar  parts  of  equal  and  similar  curves  may  wholly  unite, 
when  united  at  two  points  ;  but  it  is  not  necessary  that  they 
should  unite.  In  Fig.  II.,  ABC  may  be  the  union  of  two  arcs 
of  the  same  circle,  or  of  equal  circles,  the  points  in  and  n  being 


points  in  each  arc.     But  while  the  points  m  and  n  remain  fixed, 
the  arcs  that  were  united  may  be  conceived  to  be  separated. 


ESSAY   ON  PARALLEL  LINES. 


431 


and  one  of  them  be  turned  on  the  fixed  points  m  and  n,  when  all 
the  other  points  in  it  will  change  their  position,  and  the  arc  may 
have  the  place  of  the  curve  D  E  F. 

But  a  curve  and  a  right  line  can  never  be  united  but  in  two 
points.  In  Fig.  III.,  let  A I B  be  a  right  line,  and  C  D  E  a 
curve  line  meeting  at  the  points  m  and  n.  The  curve  may  be 
turned  on  the  fixed  points  m  and  n,  when  all  the  other  points  in 
it  will  change  their  position,  and  the  curve  may  lie  on  the  other 
side  of  the  right  line,  in  the  place  of  F  G  II,  but  no  other  point 
in  it  can  be  made  to  meet  a  point  in  the  right  line.  But  if  the 
rifht  line  A  I  B  be  conceived  to  be  turned  on  the  same  fixed 

C1 

points  m  and  n,  all  the  other  points  in  it,  or  the  whole  line,  will 
retain  the  same  position. 

Fig.  III. 


We  have  now,  from  Dr.  Reid,  a  definition  of  a  right  line,  com- 
plete and  strictly  geometrical.  For  a  line  may  as  well  be  con- 
ceived to  be  moved  to  another  line  to  determine  their  species, 
as  to  be  moved  to  generate  a  superficies,  or  as  a  superficies  to  be 
moved  to  produce  and  define  a  solid. 

From  this  definition  several  useful  corollaries  result. 

1.  There  can  be  but  one  right  line  drawn  between  any  two 
points. 

2.  There  is  but  one  species  of  the  right  line. 

3.  The  distance  between  any  two  points  is  the  length  of  the 
right  line  drawn  between  them. 

4.  A  right  line  being  produced  ever  so  far,  from  either  ex- 
treme point,  the  whole  line,  including  the  part  produced,  is  a 
right  line. 

5.  Two  right  lines  meeting  at  their  extreme  points  wholly 
coincide,  and  are  equal. 

6.  Two  equal  right  lines,  wholly  coinciding,  meet   at  their 
extreme  points. 


432  APPENDIX. 

7.  Two  right  lines,  intersecting  each  other,  cannot  include  a 
space.     As  a  point  in  one  right  line  is  united  with  a  point  in  the 
other  at  their  point  of  intersection,  then,  to  include  a  space,  the 
right  lines  must  again  meet  and  unite  in  two  other  points,  in 
which  case  they  must  wholly  unite. 

8.  A  part  of  one  right  line  cannot  be  a  part  of  another  right 
line  ;  or  two  right  lines  cannot  have  the  same  segment. 

9.  When  the  positions  of  any  two  points  in  a  right  line  are 
determined,  the  positions  of  all  the  other  points  in  the  line,  or  of 
the  whole  line,  are  determined. 

The  fifth  and  sixth  corollaries  seem  to  be  included  in  the 
eighth  axiom  in  Euclid's  First  Book,  which  is  derived  from  the 
principle  of  congruency.  The  seventh  and  eighth  corollaries  are 
mentioned  by  Professor  Playfair ;  and,  in  his  opinion,  the  ninth 
corollary  is  a  good  definition  of  a  right  line. 

I  proceed  to  consider  the  subject  of  parallel  right  lines,  and  to 
give  a  definition  of  the  position  of  two  finite  right  lines,  which 
constitutes  their  parallelism.  According  to  Euclid,  parallel  right 
lines  are  such  as  are  in  the  same  plane,  and  which,  being  pro- 
duced ever  so  far,  both  ways,  do  not  meet.  This  is  not  a  defi- 
nition of  the  position  of  two  finite  right  lines,  which  constitutes 
their  parallelism,  but  of  an  effect  or  consequence  of  such  position  ; 
and  we  cease  to  consider  them  as  finite  right  lines,  when  they 
are  conceived  to  be  produced  without  limitation.  But  finite 
right  linos  which  approach  nearer  to  each  other  as  they  are  pro- 
duced, arc  not  parallel.  And  it  must  be  presumed,  that  finite 
right  lines  which,  if  produced,  never  meet,  do  not  approach 
nearer  to  each  other.  And  Euclid  has  not  defined  any  property 
of  a  right  line,  whence  this  presumption  is  self-evidently  true. 
And  in  geometry,  there  arc  lines  which,  in  a  given  position,  may, 
when  produced,  continue  to  approach  nearer  to  each  other,  and 
yet  never  can  meet,  when  ever  so  far  produced. 

As  Dr.  Reid,  in  his  definition  of  a  right  line,  has  determined 
that  two  right  lines  have  the  same  position,  when  any  two  points 
in  one  right  line  are  united  to  two  points  in  the  other,  so  have  I 
attempted,  by  the  position  of  any  two  points  in  one  right  line 
compared  with  the  position  of  two  points  in  the  other,  to  deter- 
mine the  position  of  two  right  lines  which  constitutes  their  paral- 
lelism, in  the  following 


ESSAY   ON  PARALLEL  LINES.  433 

DEFINITION. 

Parallel  right  lines  are  such  as  are  in  the  same  plane  super- 
ficies, and  from  any  two  points,  at  any  given  distance  in  either 
line,  equal  right  lines  can  be  drawn,  without  intersecting  each 
other,  to  any  two  equally  distant  points  in  the  other  right  line. 

The  converse  of  this  definition  is  :  Right  lines  which  are  in  the 
same  plane  superficies,  and  from  any  two  points  of  which,  at  any 
given  distance  in  either  two,  equal  right  lines  can  be  drawn, 
without  intersecting  each  other,  to  any  two  equally  distant  points 
in  the  other,  are  parallel.  And  if  the  right  lines  so  drawn  from 
two  points  in  one  right  line  to  two  points  in  the  other,  are  un- 
equal, those  lines  are  not  parallel. 

To  illustrate  this  definition,  let  A  B  and  C  D  (Fig.  IV.)  be 
two  right  lines  in  the  same  plane.  In  the  line  A  B  assume  any 
point,  as  m,  and  in  the  line  C  D  any  other  point,  as  o,  and  draw 
the  right  line  m  o.  In  A  B  assume  any  other  point,  as  n,  and  in 
B  C  take  the  point p  on  the  same  side  of  the  line  mo,  so  that  op 
may  be  equal  to  m  n,  and  draw  the  right  line  n  p.  Now  if  the 
line  m  o  is  equal  to  the  line  np,  then  A  B  and  C  D  are  parallel ; 
but  if  m  o  and  np  are  unequal,  then  A  B  and  C  D  are  not 
parallel.  If  the  point  p  had  been  taken  on  the  other  side  of  m  o, 
as  at  q,  and  n  q  had  been  drawn,  it  must  have  intersected  m  o ; 
and  m  o  and  n  q  would  not  have  been  drawn  agreeably  to  the 
definition. 


Several  corollaries  result  from  this  definition,  either  self- 
evident  or  capable  of  a  simple  demonstration. 

1.  Parallel  right  lines,  produced  ever  so  far  on  cither  side, 
can  never  meet.  For  let  A  B  and  C  D  be  produced  ever  so  far, 
the  points  n  and  p  may  be  assumed  at  any  greater  distance  from 
the  points  m  and  o,  and  the  right  line  np  will  be  equal  to  the 
right  line  m  o. 

28 


434  APPENDIX. 

2.  Right  lines  not  parallel,  but  in  the  same  plane,  may  be 
produced  on  the  one  side  or  the  other,  until  they  meet,  and  then 
they  are  said  to  incline  to  each  other.     There  are  therefore  but 
three  different  relations  which  two  right  lines  in  the  same  plane 
can  be  conceived  to  have  to  each  other.     They  may  be  con- 
ceived as  wholly  united,  or  as  parallel,  or  as  inclined  to  each 
other. 

3.  Two  equal  right  lines  drawn  between  the  extreme  points 
of  two  equal  parallel  right  lines,  are  also  parallel.     For  in  and  o 
are  the  two  extreme  points  of  the  right  line  in  o,  and  n  and  p  are 
the  two  equally  distant  extreme  points  of  the  right  line  np ;  and 
the  right  lines  m  n  and  op  are  equal  and  parallel.     This  corol- 
lary is   included   in   the    33d  proposition  in  the  First  Book  of 
Euclid. 

4.  Let  A  B  and  C  D  (Fig.  V.)  be  two  parallel  right  lines,  and 
let  the  right  line  in  o  be  drawn  from  any  point  in  A  B  to  any 
point  in  C  D,  and  let  any  number  of  points  be  assumed  in  A  B, 
as  qrs  n,  and  an  equal  number  of  points,  as  t  i-xp,  be  so  assumed 
in  C  D  on  the  same  side  of  m  o,  that  m  q,  m  r,  m  s,  and  m  n  may 
respectively  be  equal  to  o  /,  o  v,  o  x,  and  op  ;  and  let  the  right 
lines  qt,  rv,  sx,  and  np  be  drawn  from  the  several  points  in  ono 
line  to  their  corresponding  points  in  the  other  line  ;  then  the 
right  lines  q  t,  r  v,  s  x,  and  up  arc  all  equal.     For  by  the  defi- 
nition, as  A  B  and  C  D  are  parallel,  and  m  q  is  equal  to  o  t,  q  t  is 
equal  to  mo;  and  by  the  same  reasoning,  rr,  sx,  and  np  are 
each  equal  to  m  o,  therefore  they  arc  equal  each  to  the  other. 

Fig.  V. 
•m          T  T  a          7i 


— D 

it  u  ***  F 

5.  The  right  lines  mo,  qt,  r  r,  s  x,  and  np  arc  each  parallel 
to  the  other.  This  is  a  consequence  of  the  third  corollary.  For 
m  o  and  q  t  are  equal  right  lines,  drawn  between  the  extreme 
points  of  two  equal  parallel  right  lines,  m  q  and  o  t ;  therefore  q  t 
is  parallel  to  m  o.  Also  m  o  and  r  v  are  two  equal  right  lines, 
drawn  between  the  extreme  points  of  two  equal  parallel  right 


ESSAY  ON  PARALLEL  LINES.  435 

lines,  TO  r  and  o  v ;  therefore  r  v  is  parallel  to  m  o.  And  q  t  and 
r  v  are  two  equal  right  lines,  drawn  between  the  extreme  points 
of  two  equal  parallel  right  lines,  q  r  and  t  v ;  therefore  r  v  and 
qt  are  parallel,  and  each  is  parallel  to  mo.  The  same  reasoning 
may  be  applied  to  the  other  lines,  s  x  and  np.  This  corollary  is 
Euclid's  30th  proposition  of  his  First  Book.  As  the  converse 
of  this, 

6.  Two  right  lines  intersecting  each  other  are  not  each  paral- 
lel to  the  same  right  line. 

In  Fig.  VI,  let  AB  and  C  D  be  two  parallel  right  lines ;  let 
E  F  be  a  right  line  intersecting  C  D  in  in,  then  E  F  cannot  be 
parallel  to  A  B.  In  C  D  and  E  F  take  two  points  on  the  same 
side  of  m,  as  pq,  so  that  mp  may  be  equal  to  m  q,  and  through 
p  and  q  draw  the  right  line  p  q  o,  meeting  A  B  in  o.  In  A  B 
take  the  point  n  on  the  same  side  of  the  line  op  that  m  is  on, 
so  that  the  line  o  n  may  be  equal  to  the  lines  p  m  and  q  m. 
Because  A  B  and  C  D  are  parallel,  p  o  is  equal  to  m  n ;  but 
q  o,  a  part  of  p  o,  is  less  than  m  n ;  therefore  E  F  is  not  parallel 
to  AB. 

Fig.  VI. 


D 


Professor  Playfair's  axiom,  substituted  for  Euclid's,  that  two 
right  lines  cannot  be  drawn  through  the  same  point,  parallel  to 
the  same  right  line,  without  coinciding  together,  is  an  obvious 
consequence  of  this  proposition.  For  if  they  do  not  coincide, 
they  must  intersect  each  other,  when  they  cannot  both  be  paral- 
lel to  the  same  right  line. 

But  Professor  Playfair's  axiom  will  admit  of  a  demonstration 
independent  of  the  last  corollary.  In  Fig.  VII.  let  AB  be  a 
right  line,  and  C  m  and  m  D  two  other  right  lines,  meeting  in  m, 
and  both  parallel  to  A  B,  then  Cm~D  is  a  right  line.  From  m, 
the  point  of  meeting,  draw  a  right  line  in  any  direction  to  A  B, 
meeting  it  in  n.  In  m  D  and  n  B  take  any  two  points,  p  o,  so 


436  APPENDIX. 

that  mp  be  equal  to  n  o,  and  draw  p  o,  -which  will  be  equal  to 
rn  n  ;  because  m  D  is  parallel  to  A  B.  In  m  C  and  n  A  take  any 
two  points,  r  q,  so  that  m  r  and  n  q  will  be  equal,  and  draw  r  q, 
which  will  be  equal  to  m  n,  because  m  C  and  A  B  are  parallel. 
Therefore  the  right  lines  r  q,  m  n,  and  p  o  are  all  equal,  and 
C  m  D  must  be  a  right  line,  by  the  fourth  corollary.  (Prop.  7, 
Lib.  I.) 

Fig.  VII. 


n 


The  definition  of  parallel  right  lines  preferred  by  D'Alembert 
is,  "  that  two  right  lines  are  parallel,  when  there  are  two  points 
in  the  one,  from  which  the  perpendiculars  drawn  to  the  other,  on 
the  same  side,  are  equal."  This  definition,  as  Professor  Playfair 
admits,  sufficiently  determines  the  position  of  the  two  right  lines ; 
but  he  adds,  that  D'Alembert  justly  acknowledged  that  it  was 
difficult  to  demonstrate  that  all  the  perpendiculars  drawn  from 
one  of  these  lines  to  the  other  are  equal.  Perhaps  the  diffi- 
culty would  vanish,  by  recurring  to  Dr.  Reid's  definition  of  a 
right  line,  and  by  altering  the  definition  approved  by  D'Alem- 
bert, so  that  right  lines  should  be  parallel,  when,  from  any  two 
points  in  the  one,  equal  perpendiculars  could  be  drawn  to  the 
other. 

The  objection  in  this  form  does  not  lie  against  the  definition  I 
have  given.  Because,  if  this  definition  be  admitted,  it  is  shown 
in  the  fourth  corollary  that,  if  the  right  lines  be  parallel,  the  right 
lines  drawn  from  any  number  of  points  in  one  line  to  their  cor- 
responding points  in  the  other,  as  explained  in  the  fourth  corol- 
lary, must  all  be  equal.  The  objection,  if  it  have  any  weight, 
is  against  this  definition.  And  it  should  be  insisted,  that  it  ought 
to  have  been  proved,  and  not  assumed  as  true,  that,  if  two  right 
lines  are  parallel,  from  any  two  points  in  one  line  there  can  be 
drawn  to  their  corresponding  points  in  the  other  line  two  equal 
right  lines.  This  objection  admits,  that  there  may  be  two  points 


ESSAY  ON  PARALLEL  LINES.  437 

in  one  of  the  right  lines,  from  which  may  be  drawn  to  their  cor- 
responding points  in  the  other  equal  right  lines.  But  as  no 
reason  can  be  assigned  for  limiting  the  definition  to  two  par- 
ticular points  and  their  corresponding  points,  it  may  extend  to 
any  two  points  whatever.  Now  a  similar  objection  may  be  made 
to  Dr.  Reid's  definition  of  right  lines.  For  it  may  be  said,  that 
although  there  may  be  two  points  in  a  right  line,  which,  united 
with  two  points  in  another  right  line,  must  produce  an  entire 
union  of  the  lines,  yet  Dr.  Reid  ought  to  have  shown  that  this 
is  true  of  any  two  points  in  a  right  line.  But  as  all  the  points  in 
one  right  line  are  united  to  their  corresponding  points  in  the 
other,  it  must  be  true  of  any  two  points.  So,  when  all  the  points 
in  a  right  line  thus  united  are  conceived  to  be  separated  from 
their  corresponding  points,  and  are  so  moved  that  all  the  points 
in  one  right  line  are  equally  distant  from  their  corresponding 
points  in  the  other,  any  two  points  in  the  one  right  line  must  be 
equally  distant  from  their  corresponding  points  in  the  other. 
And  when  all  the  points  in  one  line  are  equally  distant  from 
their  corresponding  points  in  the  other,  the  whole  of  that  line  is 
equally  distant  from,  and  parallel  to,  the  other.  This  definition 
of  two  parallel  lines,  therefore,  flows  from  Dr.  Reid's  definition  of 
a  right  line. 

On  examining  these  definitions,  there  appears  to  be  a  great 
analogy  between  them.  As  the  definition  of  a  right  line  is 
obtained  by  comparing  it  with  another  right  line ;  so  the  defi- 
nition of  the  position  of  two  right  lines,  which  constitutes  their 
parallelism,  is  obtained  by  comparing  it  with  the  position  of  two 
other  parallel  right  lines. 

Having  obtained  a  definition  of  parallel  finite  right  lines,  there 
will  be  no  occasion  for  any  axiom  in  demonstrating  the  27th, 
28th,  and  29th  propositions  in  Euclid's  First  Book. 

Euclid  has  demonstrated,  in  the  27th  and  28th  propositions, 
that,  when  two  right  lines  are  intersected  by  a  right  line,  if  the 
alternate  angles  are  equal,  the  exterior  angle  and  the  interior 
opposite  angle  on  the  same  side  are  equal,  and  that  the  sum  of 
the  two  interior  angles  on  the  same  side  is  equal  to  two  right 
angles.  I  will  now  demonstrate  that,  when  the  two  alternate 
angles  are  equal,  the  two  right  lines  are  parallel;  and,  e  con- 
verso,  when  the  two  right  lines  are  parallel,  the  alternate  angles 
are  equal. 


438  APPENDIX. 

Let  A  B  and  C  D,  Fig.  VITT.,  be  two  right  lines  intersected  by 
the  right  line  E  F  in  the  points  m  and  n,  so  that  the  alternate 
angles  mno  and  n mp  are  equal.  From  m,  draw  a  line  m o  in 
any  direction  to  C  D,  meeting  it  in  the  point  o.  On  the  opposite 
side  of  the  intersecting  line  in  AB,  make  mp  equal  to  no,  and 
draw  11  p.  There  are  two  triangles,  mno  and  m  tip,  having  by 
construction  the  two  sides  mp,  n  o  equal,  and  the  side  m  n  com- 
mon, and,  by  the  hypothesis,  the  included  angles  n  mp  and  m  n  o, 

Fi.  VIII. 


the  alternate  angles,  equal.  Therefore  (Prop.  4,  Lib.  I.)  the 
opposite  sides  mo  and  np  are  equal,  and,  by  the  definition,  the 
right  lines  A  B  and  C  D  are  parallel.  If  A  B  and  C  D  are 
parallel,  then  the  triangles  mno  and  mnp  are  equal.  By  the 
definition,  the  sides  mo  and  np  are  equal,  because  by  construc- 
tion the  sides  mp  and  n  o  are  equal,  and  the  side  m  n  is  com- 
mon. Therefore  (Prop.  8,  Lib.  I.)  the  angles  m  n  o,  n  mp,  the 
alternate  angles,  opposite  to  the  equal  sides,  are  equal. 


BOOTS  OF  ADFECTED  EQUATIONS. 


439 


No.    V. 
FORMULA. 

FOR  EXTRACTING  THE  ROOTS   OF  ADFECTED  EQUATIONS. 
LET  there  be  proposed  the  general  equation  of  this  form, 

ym  _|_  lxm-l  _|_  CXm~Z  -{-  dxm  ~3  -|-  6  Xm~l  -}- f  Xm~5  -f-  ff  Xm  ~6, 

&c.  =  0,  to  find  x. 

Let  r  be  assumed  nearly  equal  to  x,  either  a  little  greater  or  a 
little  less,  and  make 


I  Xrm~l 
c  X  rm~* 
dX  rm~3 
eX  r™-* 


1  X  mrm- 


cX»»-! 


&c. 
1  X  m 


e  X  m,  —  '. 
&c. 


„  m  —  1    _     « 
X  -    -  r»— » 


>•  =  s,  and 


r=i  x    ,- 


c  X  *»  —  2  X  —«—'*" 

&c. 


2 

—  4 


Then  the  difference  between  r  and  a;  is  ± 


±  «  <  T  I  s. 


Call  this  difference  e,  that  is  to  say  ±  e,  according  as  this  differ- 
ence is  an  affirmative  or  negative  quantity.  Then  r  ±  e,  or 
—  r  'ip  e  =  x.  Now,  to  determine  the  signs  of  the  several  terms 
of  the  formula,  attend  to  these  two  rules. 

1.  Whenever  in  the  equation  to  be  resolved  a  and  t  have  like 
signs,  then  a  t  in  the  formula  is  negative  ;  but  otherwise  a  t  is  af- 
firmative. 


440  APPENDIX. 

2.  If  in  the  equation  to  be  resolved  s  is  affirmative,  then  in  the 
formula  it  is  -| — — •       -—  ;   but  if  s  is  negative,  then  it  is 

_  «/jss±at  +  j  s 
t 

3.  The  sign  of  t  in  the  denominator  is  always  the  same  as  in 
the  equation. 

EXAMPLE  1. — Let  x4  •#  —  Bx^-\-75x — 10000  =  0,  to  find  x. 
Now,  to  compare  this  equation  with  the  general  equation,  make 
m  =  4  ;  then  the  general  equation  is  transformed  to 
c  &  __  d  x  __  e  ==  o. 


Hence,  we  have  6  =  0,    c  =  — 3,   d  =  75,    and  e  =  — 10000. 
Assume  r  =  10. 

10000  1 


Then 

750 


40001 
K  =  450  =  a.  And  — 60 


>-  =4015  =s. 


—10000  f 

And   "vv  f-  =  597  =  t. 
— 3> 

Now  the  formula  is  -| — - —         —     And  +/^  s  s  —  a  t 

=  1939.4,  —%s=—  2007.5.     1939.4  — 2007.5  = —68.1.    And 
—.g®'1  =  —0.114.        And  10  —  0.114  =  9.886  =  x  nearly.      If 

you  want  to  find  the  value  of  x  more  accurately,  then   assume 
r=  9.886. 

EXAMPLE  2.  —  Let  us  take  the  same  equation  as  in  the  last 
example,  and  let  r  be  assumed  =  9. 

65611  2J)16l 

. O  t  Q 

Then  [  =  —3007  =  a.      And  —54 

C75  | 
-10000  J 

And  48G  |  =  483  =  t. 


Now  the  formula  is  *JLL=-l  ^  _j_0.R,  &c.,    and 

x  =  9.8,  nearly.  By  assuming  r  =  9,  you  will  not  have  so 
many  figures  in  the  root  true  by  the  first  operation  as  when  you 
assume  r=  10;  because  10  is  much  nearer  the  true  root  than  9. 


HOOTS  OF  ADFECTED  EQUATIONS.       441 

EXAMPLE  3.  —  Let  x?  —  1 7  z2  +  54  x  —  350  =  0,  to  find  or. 
Comparing  this   equation  with   the  general  one,  by  making 
=  3,  we  have  b  =  — 17,  c  =  54,  and  d  =  —350. 
Assume  r  =  15. 


3375  675  ] 

Then       ~3825 

810  54 

—350 


.  =  10  =  a  ;    and  —510 


-  =  219  =  s; 


and  _         =  28  =  t. 
The  formula  is  now  the  same  as  in  the  first  example,  viz.  : 


8,at  —  l8  =  _Q  04593? 


and  x  =  15  —  0.04593  =  14.95407. 

EXAMPLE  4.  —  Let  x4  +  3  x3  —  28  a;2—  3G  x  +  150  =  0,  to 
find  x. 


Here  m  =  4, 

6  =  3,    c=  —  28,    d  =  — 

Assume  r  =  2. 

16  1 

32"! 

24 

36 

Then        —112 
-72 
150 

™6  =  a,     and     _l 
—  36  j 

24 
and      18  >-  =  14  =  t. 

—  28 


•\T        T-  •  ••         i     ^.         i     •          N  — 

JS'ow,  because  s  is  negative,  the  formula  is  --       — 


And^-ss  —  ai  =  1516;  and  —  ^1516  =  —38.9357  ;  and 
—38.9357  -f  (1  s  =  40)  is  =  +1.0643  ;  and  l~t  =  0.076. 
Then  x  =  2.076,  nearly. 

EXAMPLE  5.  —  Let  x3  #  +  a:  —  9282  =  0,  to  find  x.  And 
let  r  =  20.  Here  1  =  0,  c  =  1,  and  rf  =  —9282. 

And  a  =  —  12G2,  s  =  1201,  and  t  =  60.  Here  the  signs  of 
a,  s,  and  t,  being  the  same  as  in  the  second  example,  the  formula 

is  the  same  ;  and  ^*"  +  a*  —  *8  =  1>005.     Then  ^  =  20  + 

1  =  21. 


442  APPENDIX. 

EXAMPLE  6.  —  Let  x3  —  a,'2  -j-  x  —  46526760  =  0. 
Here  6  =  —  1,     c  ==  +1,     and    d  =  —  46526760.      Assume 
r  =  400. 

Then  a  =  17313640,  s  =  479201,   and  t  =  1199. 
And  the  formula  is 


««_—  .«._—     «  =  40,     and     x  =  400—  40  =  360. 

Here  360  is  accurately  equal  to  x  ;  but  if  I  had  pursued  the 
formula  further  I  should  have  —  40.16,  instead  of  —  10;  which 
Avotild  have  made  x  =  359.84,  too  little. 

EXAMPLE  7.  —  As  the  equation  x*  #•  —  3  za  -4-  75  x  —  10000 
=  0  has  a  negative  root,  let  us  resume  that  equation,  and  assume 
r  =  —  10,  and  we  have,  as  before,  6  =  0,  c  =  —  3,  d  =  75, 
and  e  =  —10000. 

rm      =      10000 

I  rm  -  1  __ 

Then  er"l-2  =  —      300  \-  =  —  1050  =  a. 

drm~3  —  —     750 
er"'-4  ==—10000 

mrm-\  __  —  4000 


bm  —  lrm-2=  0  , 

And  J-  =—3865 

cm—  2rm~3  =  —     60 


dm — 3rm~4=  75 


And  bXm  —  IX-    -  rm~3  =      0^=597  = 


c  X  *»  —  2  X  -    -  r"-4  =  —3 


•     ,1       n          i      /•      Ai  • 

is  the  formula  tor  tins  equation. 

But   %ss-\-al  =  4361406.25  and  —^4361406.  25  =  —2088.3. 

And   —2088.3  4-  1932.5  =  —155.8.      And  "}™—  =  —  0.26. 

B97 

Therefore  x  =  —10  —  0.2600  =  —10.26,  r  being  in  this  ex- 
ample negative. 

Roots  of  adfected  equations  may  also  be  extracted  by  another 
formula,  in  which  the  extraction  of  the  square  root  is  avoided.  Af- 


ROOTS  OF  ADFECTED  EQUATIONS.       443 

ter  having  found  a,  s,  and  t  as  before,  and  having  assumed  r  nearly 
equal  to  the  true  root,  then  the  difference  between  r  and  x  is 

1 '  which  is  to  be  added  to,  or  subtracted  from  r,  as  r  is  as- 

S±T 

sumed  less  or  greater  than  the  true  root. 

EXAMPLE  8.  —  Let  us  take  the  equation  in  the  first  example, 
Z4^_3a;2_f_75a;_  1()000  =  0,   where    r  =  10,    a  =  450, 

s  =  4015,  and  t=  597.     Then    —?__==  0.1139,    which,    sub- 

s  —  — 

tracted  from  10,  because  r  was  assumed  too  great,  leaves 
9.8861  =  x. 

This  formula  is  called  a  rational  formula,  as  the  former  one  is 
called  an  irrational  formula. 

EXAMPLE  9.  —  To  take  another  example,  in  which  the  irra- 
tional formula  is  used,  let  us  take  the  last  equation, 
yA  y.  _  3  £2  _|_  75  x  _  10000  =  0, 

where  x  in  example  7th  was  found  nearly  equal  to  — 10.2G. 
If  r  is  made  =—10.26,  then  a  =  — 4.236,  s  =  — 4183.622, 

and  t  =  628.6056.     The  formula  is ±£1±*J  ±lf .    And 

|  ss  _j_  a  t  =  4378336.032912.  —  */4378336.032912    = 

— 2092.399846,  to  which  add  2091.811,  the  sum  is  —0.588486; 
and  this  divided  by  t  =  628.6056  is  =  —0.009361767,  which 
added  to  — 10.26  gives  for  ar,  — 10.2609361767. 

EXAMPLE  10.  —  Let  x3  •%  —  19a;-f-32  =  0,  and  assume  r 
equal  to  — 5.     Then  a  =  2,  s  =  56,  and  t  =  — 15. 

\ss  -\-at=    814. 

=      28.5306. 


t 
And  —5  —  0.03537  ==—5.03537  ==  x. 

These  six  figures  are  all  true,  as  may  be  easily  known  by 
making  r  =  — 5.03,  and  repeating  the  operation. 


444  APPENDIX. 

Suppose  I  assumed  r  =  -f-  2.  Then  a  =  2,  s  =  — 7,  and 
/  =  6.  Then 

*/  \  ss  —  a t  -f-  A  s 
— 3_._  =  o.5,    and   x  =  2.5. 

Suppose,  again,  that  r=  2.5.  Then  a  =  -|-0.125,  s  =  — 0.25, 
and  t  =  7.5. 

£ss  =  0.015625,  — at  =  — 9375,  and  \ss  —  a*  = — 0.921875. 

But  J — 0.921875  is  an  impossible  quantity.  Consequently  this 
equation  can  have  no  affirmative  root. 

But  for  a  further  trial,  suppose  r  =  -}-3.  Then  a  =  2,  .9  =  8, 
and<=9.  £ss —  at  =  1G  —  18  =  —  2,  and  ./—  2  is  an 
impossible  quantity.  However,  2.5  very  nearly  answers  to  the 
definition  of  a  root  of  the  equation  ;  for  substituting  2.5  in  the 
equation  instead  of  or,  we  have  15.G25  ^f  —  47.5  -(-  32  is  nearly 
=  0.  For,  adding  the  terms  together,  their  sum  is  0.125  =  0. 

To  find  the  value  of  a,  s,  and  t,  it  will  be  most  convenient  to 
make  three  columns  of  the  powers  of  r,  the  head  of  the  first  column 
being  r"1,  making  the  second  term  rm  —  I,  the  third  term  r"1"2,  &c. 
And  make  the  head  of  the  second  column  r"1"1,  and  the  second 
term  rm~2,  &c.  And  make  the  head  of  the  third  column  r"'~2, 
the  second  term  r"1  ~  3,  &c.  Thus  supposing  r  =  1 0,  and  m  =  5. 
Then  the  three  columns  will  stand  thus : 

1st.  2d.  3d. 

100000  10000  1000 

10000  1000  100 

1000  100  10 

100  10  1 

10  1 

1 

Then  we  shall  have 

100000  X  1  1  10000  X  m 

10000  X  b    I  1000  X  1>  »T= 

i          100  X  C  in  

=  n,    and 


ROOTS   OF  ADFECTED  EQUATIONS. 


445 


1000  X  m  X 


and 


100  X 
10  X 


X 
X 


—  1  X 

—  2X 


m  —  3 


3 
d  X  m  —  3  X  —  I 


Or  it  will  be  sufficient  to  make  only  the  first  column,  and  then  all 
the  terms  of  it  multiplied  respectively  by  l,b,  c,d  e,  &c.,  =  a  ; 
all  the  terms  but  the  first  multiplied  by 


1)  m  —  1 


cm  —  2 


dm  —  3 
&c. 

and  all  the  terms  but  the  two  first  multiplied  by 


m  —  1 


c  X  m  —  2  X 
&c. 


2 
i  —  3 


—  /. 


In  a  manner  nearly  like  this  may  be  investigated  a  general 
theorem  for  extracting  the  roots  of  pure  powers  ;  or  rather  this 
formula  is  equally  applicable  to  the  extraction  of  such  roots. 

Suppose  I  want  the  cube  root  of  — 7.  The  equation  is  now 
y?  %  •  ^  —  7  =  0.  Make  r  =  2. 


Then 


And 
And 


=  1  =  a,     12  =  5,     and    6  =  t. 


-/'-^  =  -0.089. 


x  =  2  —0.089  =  1.91,  &c. 


But  there  is  a  general  irrational  formula  more  convenient  than 
this,  which  I  formerly  investigated. 


446  APPENDIX. 

No.   VI. 

LETTEE   OF   JUDGE   WHITE. 

[I  received  the  following  letter  from  tlie  Hon.  Daniel  A.  White, 
of  Salem,  after  the  text  of  this  Memoir  was  clectrotyped.  But 
its  contents  are  so  interesting,  to  me  at  least,  that  I  place  here 
nearly  the  whole  letter.  It  is  the  testimony  of  one  who  knew 
my  father  well,  and  was  among  his  most  valued  friends  during 
a  great  part  of  his  life.] 

Salem,  September  15,  1858. 
MY  DEAII  SIR: 

You  must  not  impute  to  indifference  my  long  delay  in  comply- 
ing with  your  request  to  furnish  you  with  my  reminiscences  of 
your  late  honored  father.  No  man  living  entertains  a  sincerer 
veneration  for  his  memory  than  I  do,  or  would  more  gladly  aid 
you  in  your  contemplated  Memoir  of  his  life.  I  wish  it  was  in 
my  power  to  afford  you  valuable  aid.  My  recollections  of  your 
father  extend  through  many  years,  and  have  ever  been  cherished 
by  me.  I  can,  I  am  sure,  recall  most  of  my  earlier  interviews 
with  him.  There  was  always  something  in  his  manner  and  con- 
versation to  impress  me  with  his  kindness,  in  addition  to  the  ven- 
eration I  felt  ia  common  with  others.  You  have  doubtless  read, 
in  Mr.  Morison's  Life  of  Judge  Smith,  the  passage  relating  to 
your  father,  in  which  Judge  Smith  expresses  his  "  heart-felt  ac- 
knowledgments of  his  kindness,"  adding :  "  lie  was  ever  ready  to 
assist  such  as  manifested  a  desire  for  instruction.  This  part  of 
his  character,  I  believe,  has  not  had  that  justice  done  to  it  which, 
in  an  eminent  degree,  it  deserved."  This  remark  accords  with 
my  own  experience  and  observation.  I  never  left  your  father's 
presence  with  any  other  than  a  pleasing  impression  of  his  con- 
descension and  kindness. 

To  begin  with  my  earliest  reminiscence  of  your  father,  I  must 
go  back  to  my  childhood,  when  I  heard  some  men,  who  had  come 
from  court,  talk  about  "  Lawyer  Parsons"  in  a  way  that  made  a 
strong  impression  upon  me  ;  but  I  remember  only  that  he  was  so 
eloquent  as  to  make  all  the  jury  cry,  —  and  this  became  associated 


LETTER  OF  JUDGE  WHITE.  44.7 

•with  him  in  my  mind.  Many  years  afterward,  I  was  charged 
with  a  message  and  a  fee  to  him  from  one  of  my  elder  brothers, 
when  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  was  in  session  at  Newburyport. 
It  so  happened  that  I  first  saw  your  father  in  court  earnestly  eon- 
testing  some  point  with  Lawyer  Bradbury,  in  a  case  which  I 
afterwards  understood  was  about  a  militia  fine.  I  was  quite  dis- 
appointed in  regard  to  his  eloquence,  —  so  different  from  what  I 
had  expected.  I  remember  being  much  troubled  to  get  access  to 
him,  following  him  repeatedly  to  his  office  while  surrounded  by  oth- 
ers, and  I  was  so  embarrassed  that  I  should  hardly  have  perse- 
vered but  for  the  fee  I  had  for  him.  I  waited  a  long  time  in  his 
office  for  my  turn  to  speak,  not  presuming  to  do  so  till  I  found 
him  alone  ;  but  he  received  me  so  kindly,  that  I  at  once  felt  easy. 
After  attending  to  my  message,  he  talked  about  other  matters, 
and  made  some  pleasant  allusions  to  the  ten-shilling  case,  as  he 
called  it,  in  which  he  and  Brother  Bradbury  had  been  engaged. 
The  summary  manner  in  which  he  appeared  to  dispose  of  mat- 
ters, as  now  recollected,  reminds  me  of  what  the  late  Mr.  B.  Gor- 
ham,  who  studied  law  with  your  father,  once  told  me  of  his  man- 
ner of  dealing  with  verbose  clients.  He  would  listen  patiently 
till  he  clearly  understood  the  case,  and  then  stop  them  short, 
saying :  "  I  now  understand  your  case  perfectly ;  a  single  word 
more  will  only  confuse  what  you  have  said."  I  remember  an- 
other thing  mentioned  by  Mr.  Gorham,  showing  your  father's  ex- 
actness in  business.  It  was  his  practice  to  put  away  the  money 
collected  for  any  person  in  a  parcel  by  itself,  properly  labelled, 
to  be  delivered  when  called  for  just  as  it  was  received. 

My  only  subsequent  call  at  your  father's  office  in  Newburyport 
was  some  eight  or  ten  years  later,  —  I  think  in  January,  1800, — 
which  presented  a  striking  contrast  to  the  first.  I  found  him 
absorbed  over  a  book,  surrounded  by  four  or  five  studious  pupils, 
like  Plato  with  his  disciples,  or,  rather,  Pythagoras,  for  profound 
silence  appeared  to  prevail  among  them.  My  purpose  in  calling 
was  to  see  my  college  friend,  Michael  Hodge,  who  was  a  student 
in  the  office.  We  soon  came  out  together;  and  in  respect  to 
your  father,  I  had  only  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  him  in  a  new 
position,  and  receiving  an  impression  that  was  always  interesting 
to  me.  Mr.  Hodge  afterwards  told  me  that  he  was  rebuked  for 
not  introducing  me  to  him,  when  he  learned  that  I  was  a  Tutor  at 
Cambridge.  Among  your  father's  pupils  I  observed  Kobert  Treat 


448  APPENDIX. 

Paine,  the  poet,  who  had  just  delivered  a  eulogy  on  Washington 
in  Newburyport,  as  I  had  done  in  Methuen,  where  I  had  been 
passing  the  college  vacation,  -which  makes  me  remember  the  time. 

Not  long  after,  your  father  must  have  removed  to  Boston.  The 
next  time  that  I  recollect  meeting  him  was  in  December,  1802,  at 
the  sale  of  Nathan  Frazier's  splendid  library,  which  drew  to- 
gether a  company  of  more  eminent  gentlemen  than  I  ever  saw 
on  any  similar  occasion.  Mr.  Frazier  was  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard College,  1784,  and  a  distinguished  merchant  of  Boston. 
His  library,  attractive  as  it  was  from  the  exterior  elegance  of  the 
books,  was  still  more  remarkable  for  their  classical  and  intrinsic 
value.  The  company  was  not  very  numerous,  most  of  them 
being  seated  round  a  long  table,  at  the  head  of  which  stood  the 
auctioneer,  who  passed  the  books  down  the  table.  I  had  the 
good  fortune  to  sit  next  to  your  father,  opposite  to  whom  was 
Fisher  Ames ;  and  they  kept  up  a  characteristic  pleasantry  in 
their  remarks  on  books  and  authors,  affording  a  delightful  enter- 
tainment to  all  who  sat  near  them.  I  have  also  an  instance  of 
your  father's  kindness  to  remember.  He  offered  me  a  beautiful 
copy  of  Pliny's  Letters,  struck  off  to  him,  which  I  was  very  glad 
to  take.  In  the  afternoon  or  next  morning,  before  the  sale  com- 
menced, as  he  was  examining  the  books,  I  asked  him,  on  observ- 
ing Cunningham's  Law  Dictionary  near  him,  which  was  best,  that 
or  Jacob's.  "  None,"  he  replied,  "  is  best  "  ;  adding,  presently, 
"  Kinnicum's,"  (as  he  called  it,)  "  I  suppose,  is  as  good  as  any." 
Having  had  the  gift  of  Jacob's,  I  was  looking  for  a  commendation 
of  that;  but  his  pointed  remark  put  me  out  of  conceit  with 
both. 

I  have  no  recollection  of  meeting  your  father  again  till  about 
the  time  of  my  admission  to  the  bar  in  Essex,  which  was  in  June, 
1804.  I  well  remember  an  interesting  evening  which  I  passed 
with  some  other  young  lawyers  in  his  company  at  Mrs.  Perkins's, 
in  Ipswich,  his  usual  lodging-place  at  court  times.  We  were  all 
impressed  by  his  affability  and  kindness,  and  the  richness  of  his 
conversation.  His  manner  with  younger  members  of  the  bar 
was  peculiarly  kind  and  condescending,  as  well  as  dignified, 
somewhat  in  the  spirit  of  Juvenal's  "  Maxima  debctur  puero 
reverentia."  His  conversation  turned  chiefly  upon  classical  learn- 
ing, and  the  writings  and  character  of  Cicero.  He  expressed  a 
high  opinion  of  Middlcton's  Life  of  Cicero,  —  and  upon  some  one's 


LETTER   OF  JUDGE  WHITE.  449 

observing  that  he  had  never  read  it,  he  pleasantly  said,  "  No  man 
is  fit  to  talk  about  Cicero  who  has  not  read  Middleton's  Life  of 
him." 

With  the  older  lawyers  your  father  was  more  familiar  and 
jocose.  Dexter  and  Otis,  for  instance,  he  would  call  Sam  and 
Harry,  and  evidently  to  their  gratification.  All  looked  up  to 
him  at  the  bar,  —  even  the  court  itself,  —  while  he  looked  down 
upon  nobody.  He  was  not  only  pre-eminent,  but  singularly  so, 
—  like  Johnson  in  his  literary  club.  Since  his  death,  I  have 
often  thought  of  what  Burke,  as  stated  by  one  of  his  biographers, 
said  upon  the  death  of  Johnson:  "Johnson  is  dead,  and  there  is 
nothing  left  to  remind  you  of  him,  or  that  has  a  tendency  to  re- 
mind you  of  him  ! " 

[After  speaking  of  two  or  three  cases  in  which  he  had  heard 
Mr.  Dexter  and  my  father,  Judge  White  goes  on  :  — ] 

Mr.  Dexter's  stately  bearing  and  dignified  style  of  speaking 
better  accorded  with  my  academic  ideas  of  eloquence,  than  your 
father's  more  simple  and  natural  manner.  In  this  view  they 
were  most  strikingly  different.  The  former,  in  addressing  the 
court  or  jury,  seemed  to  be  delivering  a  finished  oration,  while 
the  latter,  in  doing  the  same  thing,  appeared  only  in  earnest  and 
animated  conversation.  Mr.  Dexter  never  forgot  his  dignity  as 
an  orator ;  your  father  evidently  thought  nothing  about  it,  even 
when  producing  the  noblest  effect  of  oratory.  All  that  I  subse- 
quently learned  of  your  father  tended  to  raise  my  admiration  of 
his  powers  and  attainments,  as  well  as  of  his  character  and  public 
services.  The  very  next  time  that  I  listened  to  him  at  the  bar, 
which  was  in  the  same  Crowninshield  cause  and  opposed  by  the 
same  eminent  advocate,  he  made  a  deeper  impression  than  I 
have  ever  received  from  any  other  lawyer,  or  from  himself  on 
any  other  occasion 

It  was  at  one  of  the  terms  at  Salem,  that  I  heard  this  great 
argument.  It  was  made  in  reply  to  Mr.  Dexter,  on  his  motion  to 
the  court,  —  a  motion  which  brought  up  the  whole  question  of 
law  in  the  Crowninshield  case.  Mr.  Dexter  had  prepared  him- 
self for  a  powerful  effort,  and  he  succeeded  in  it  to  admiration. 
All  who  listened  to  him,  I  believe,  felt  that  your  father  had  .a 
great  effort  to  make  in  his  reply ;  he  certainly  made  one,  and 
succeeded  to  still  greater  admiration.  Instantly  rising  as  Mr. 
29 


450  APPENDIX. 

Dexter  closed,  he  followed  him  step  by  step  with  wonderful  accu- 
racy of  memory  and  knowledge  of  the  law,  demolishing,  as  ho 
proceeded,  the  whole  fabric  of  the  argument,  which  had  been  so 
ably  constructed.  Yet  it  was  not  the  legal  learning  and  the 
clear,  cogent  reasoning  displayed  by  your  father  on  this  occa- 
sion, that  most  deeply  affected  his  hearers,  but  the  prodigious 
resources  at  his  command  on  such  an  emergency,  and  his  mas- 
terly use  of  them 

Not  long  before  your  father's  death  I  came  from  his  house  one 
evening  in  company  with  Judge  Parker,  whose  conversation,  in 
our  walk,  turned  upon  the  wonderful  attainments  of  the  Chief 
Justice,  one  of  which  was  the  power  of  expressing  himself  on  any 
subject  in  the  fewest  and  best  words. 

Very  soon  after  this  April  term  of  the  court  in  Essex,  your 
father  was  appointed  Chief  Justice,  —  to  the  satisfaction,  I  be- 
lieve, of  all  parties  and  all  persons  in  the  Commonwealth,  with 
the  single  exception  of  the  senior  Justice  on  the  bench,  —  your 
father's  senior  too,  —  who,  from  the  exalted  stations  he  had  held 
in  the  general  government,  as  well  as  from  his  seniority,  could 
not  but  feel  entitled  to  the  appointment.  Yet  such  was  the  uni- 
versally acknowledged  pre-eminence  among  lawyers  of  the  indi- 
vidual selected,  that  the  disappointed  Judge  himself  manifested 
no  exception.  I  need  not  say  how  fully  the  public  expectations 
from  this  memorable  appointment  were  realized.  The  various 
volumes  of  Reports  of  Cases  in  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  while 
your  father  presided  over  it,  have  established  his  fame  for  ever. 
You  will  remember  the  noble  tribute  paid  to  his  memory  by  the 
late  Judge  Smith  of  Exeter 

That  the  new  Chief  Justice,  in  the  discharge  of  his  office,  with 
the  mass  of  unfinished  business  which  he  found  on  the  dockets  of 
the  court,  and  with  his  paramount  sense  of  duty,  should  have  met 
the  approbation  of  all  parties  in  all  cases,  was  not  possible  in  the 
nature  of  things.  It  is  not  at  all  remarkable  that  he.  should 
sometimes  have  been  thought  "  arbitrary,"  and  even  "overbear- 
ing," especially  by  lawyers  who  were  cut  short  in  their  meditated 
displays  of  eloquence,  or  embarrassed  by  suggestions  which  he 
might  make  to  them.  Time,  in  his  view,  was  precious,  and  public 
duty  more  imperative  than  personal  regard.  The  accumulated 
business  of  the  court  forbade  any  useless  consumption  of  time. 
Of  course,  when  an  advocate  appeared  to  forget  all  this  in  his  anibi- 


LETTER  OF  JUDGE   WHITE.  45^ 

tious  or  mistaken  prolixities,  the  Chief  Justice  would  interpose  to 
set  him  right,  and  it  mattered  not  how  eminent  he  might  be.  If 
very  eminent  and  anyAvisc  imperious  towards  the  court,  I  can 
well  imagine  that  he  might  receive  a  treatment  which  he  would 
think  "  harsh."  In  arguments  addressed  to  the  court,  if  time 
were  needlessly  taken  up  on  matters  undisputed,  or  about  which 
the  court  already  agreed  with  the  advocate,  it  might  be  expected 
that  the  Chief  Justice  would  interpose,  and  perhaps  direct  his 
attention  to  points  on  which  the  court  wished  to  hear  him.  How 
natural  for  any  lawyer,  —  especially  an  eminent  lawyer,  —  who 
thought  more  of  his  own  fame  than  of  the  court's  duty,  to  feel 
disturbed  by  such  an  unwelcome  interruption,  imposing  silence 
where  he  had  prepared  himself  to  speak  with  effect,  and  direct- 
ing attention  to  points  on  which  he  was  not  prepared  to  speak  at 
all !  How  natural  that  this  should  be  complained  of  as  arbitrary, 
and  taking  the  argument  into  the  court's  own  hands,  and  that  the 
Chief  Justice,  in  thus  presuming  upon  the  faithful  preparation  of 
counsel,  and  thus  earnestly  faithful  himself,  should  seem  "des- 
potic " ! 

From  my  own  experience  and  observation,  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  Chief  Justice  Parsons,  I  have  none  but  pleasing  recol- 
lections of  him.  At  the  last  term  of  the  court  which  he  held  in 
Essex,  —  April,  1813,  —  I  had  the  honor  to  argue  a  cause  to  the 
jury  before  him,  which  may  afford  some  illustration  of  his  manner 
of  proceeding  in  jury  trials.  It  was  upon  an  appeal  from  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas,  where  I  had  obtained  a  verdict  on  a 
demand  resisted  chiefly  upon  the  ground  that  it  was  barred  by 
the  Statute  of  Limitations.  To  prove  acknowledgment  within  six 
years,  my  client  brought  the  same  witnesses  (and  there  was  quite 
a  number  of  them)  that  had  been  examined  in  the  court  below. 
After  going  through  with  the  first  witness,  I  was  proceeding  to  call 
another,  when  the  court  stopped  me,  saying,  that  the  fact  was 
already  sufficiently  proved  if  the  witness  were  not  impeached, 
and  he  should  so  instruct  the  jury.  I  recollect  no  other  inter- 
ruption in  the  course  of  the  trial.  This  would  seem  conducive, 
not  only  to  the  saving  of  time,  but  to  a  clearer  apprehension  of 
the  fact  by  the  jury,  than  they  might  have  had  from  a  multitude 
of  witnesses.  Your  father's  repugnance,  while  on  the  bench,  to 
superfluous  words  from  others,  was  not  more  remarkable  than  it 
had  been  to  the  use  of  them  himself  when  at  the  bar.  Soon  after 


452  APPENDIX. 

the  trial  just  mentioned,  I  had  occasion  to  call  on  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice in  Boston,  about  some  matter  connected  with  it ;  and  he  then 
informed  me  that  it  was  his  practice,  after  every  court,  to  revise 
the  opinions  he  had  given  in  any  cases,  and  that  in  my  case  he 
had  made  a  mistake  in  not  directing  the  jury  to  allow  interest  on 
my  demand  as  well  as  the  principal.  This  avowal  struck  me  as 
an  instance  of  honest  frankness,  to  be  looked  for  only  from  a  truly 
great  mind.  I  remember  hearing  your  father,  when  at  the  bar, 
say  that  it  was  a  rule  with  him,  after  getting  through  with  a 
cause,  to  dismiss  it  from  his  mind,  —  a  rule  seemingly  opposite  to 
the  judicial  practice  stated  to  me,  —  yet  both  were  founded  in  the 
same  wisdom.  The  advocate,  by  withdrawing  his  thoughts  en- 
tirely from  a  finished  cause,  is  better  prepared  to  enter  upon  a 
fresh  one,  as  the  judge,  by  a  revision  of  former  opinions,  becomes 
better  qualified  for  future  cases.  Your  father,  with  all  his  supe- 
riority of  intellect  and  learning,  never  felt  above  the  ordinary 
means  of  knowledge,  but  assiduously  improved  them  for  public 
usefulness  to  the  last  days  of  his  life.  What  a  noble  example  for 
humbler  minds,  as  Avell  as  for  his  peers  ! 

About  this  time  my  acquaintance  with  your  father  had  become 
somewhat  more  intimate.  I  had  partaken  of  his  hospitality,  and 
been  in  a  measure  honored  with  his  confidence.  In  the  year 
1812,  while  I  was  a  member  of  the  Senate,  I  had  various  inter- 
esting conversations  with  him  on  the  subject  of  a  bill  which  had 
been  introduced  in  the  Legislature  by  the  dominant  party,  to 
repeal  the  Act,  passed  two  years  before,  "  to  alter  and  amend 
the  Constitution  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  Harvard  College." 
This  important  act  originated  with  your  father,  who  was,  at  the 
time,  a  member  of  the  Corporation  ;  and  though  so  fatally  assailed 
by  the  violence  of  party,  —  a  violence  that  spares  nothing  in  its 
way,  —  it  will  live  in  history  as  one  of  the  durable  monuments 
of  his  wisdom.  From  my  intercourse  and  conversation  with  him 
at  this  period,  I  learned  much  respecting  the  Constitution  of  the 
Commonwealth,  as  well  as  that  of  Harvard  College,  illustrative 
of  your  father's  public  services  in  relation  to  both 

Your  father  had  ever  been  an  earnest  friend  to  the  College. 
I  remember  hearing  of  his  taking  a  lively  interest  in  its  welfare, 
long  before  he  was  a  member  of  the  Corporation,  particularly  in 
respect  to  raising  the  standard  of  education,  and  providing  more 
permanent  instructors  than  were  the  tutors  of  that  day.  The 


LETTER  OF  JUDGE  WHITE.  453 

fr 

interest  he  felt  in  his  Alma  Mater  did  not  spring  from  his  per- 
sonal attachment  or  love  of  learning,  so  much  as  from  his  pro- 
found appreciation  of  the  means  of  enlightening  and  improving 
the  people,  the  noblest  of  which  was  the  University.  He  saw  in 
the  intelligence  and  virtue  of  the  people  the  only  solid  founda- 
tion of  their  liberties  and  social  well-being 

I  am  here  reminded  of  a  very  different  exercise  of  your  father's 
powers,  at  the  close  of  a  law  term  of  the  court,  —  I  think,  the 
last  he  held  in  Salem.  It  appeared  to  me  the  most  astonish- 
ing exhibition  of  intellectual  power  that  I  had  ever  witnessed. 
In  the  morning  of  the  last  day  of  the  term  the  Chief  Justice 
delivered  the  opinion  of  the  court  in  every  case  that  had  been 
argued,  —  some  six  or  eight,  —  apparently  without  a  word  in 
writing  before  him.  Taking  up  the  parcel  of  papers  pertaining 
to  a  case,  he  named  and  stated  the  case,  and  then  gave  at  length 
the  opinion  of  the  court  upon  it,  in  the  clearest  manner  and 
without  the  least  hesitation,  as  much  at  his  ease  as  in  common 
conversation  ;  and  so  he  went  through  with  the  whole.  The 
completeness  and  accuracy  of  his  memory  were  more  wonderful 
to  me  than  his  familiarity  with  the  law,  or  his  logical  precision 
and  perspicuity ;  all  together  inspired  profound  admiration,  and 
afforded  a  rich  intellectual  treat,  which  has  ever  remained  unique 
in  my  memory.  Of  all  men  I  have  ever  known,  I  should  apply 
to  him  the  memorable  lines  of  Shakespeare  : 

"  Turn  him  to  any  cause  of  policy, 
The  Gordian  knot  of  it  he  would  unloose 
Familiar  as  his  garter." 

Of  your  father's  early  political  and  patriotic  services  I  can  of 
course  know  nothing  except  through  others  and  from  history. 
In  these  ways  I  have  learned  enough  to  be  deeply  impressed 
with  their  value.  He  never,  I  believe,  desired  any  oflice  or 
political  station  for  his  own  benefit,  and  never  held  one  in  which 
he  did  not  earnestly  seek  to  promote  the  public  welfare.  His 
early  patriotic  services  appear  to  me  to  have  been  of  more  impor- 
tance to  the  country  than  all  his  juridical  labors,  great  as  these 
unquestionably  were.  To  what  one  man  are  we  more  indebted 
for  the  excellence  of  our  State  Constitution  as  originally  formed, 
or  for  the  successful  adoption  in  this  Commonwealth  of  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution  ?  The  "  Result "  of  the  Delegates  at  Ipswich  in 


454  APPENDIX. 

^» 

the  County  of  Essex,  April  2Dth,  1778,  to  take  into  consideration 
the  Constitution  prepared  by  the  Legislative  Convention  of  the 
State,  was  from  his  pen.  A  printed  copy  of  it  in  the  Salem 
Athenaeum  bears  the  written  attestation  of  the  late  John  Picker- 
ing, LL.  D.,  that  it  was  drawn  up  by  Theophilus  Parsons.  This 
famous  "  Essex  llesult"  mainly  conduced  to  the  rejection  by  the 
people  of  the  crude  Constitution  proposed  by  the  State  Conven- 
tion, and  thus  led  to  the  adoption  of  that  which  has  proved  so 
rich  a  blessing  to  Massachusetts,  and  which  in  its  spirit  and  prin- 
ciples served  as  a  model  for  the  Federal  Constitution 

I  have  no  doubt  that  your  father  was  a  master  spirit  in  the 
Convention  of  1779,  for  framing  the  State  Constitution,  as  well 
as  in  that  of  1789,  for  adopting  the  Federal  Constitution.  The 
"Essex  llesult"  established  his  reputation  as  a  civilian,  and 
doubtless  served  to  give  him  the  conspicuous  influence  which  he 
exerted  on  these  occasions.  Although  the  youngest  of  the  dele- 
gates from  Jvewburyport  to  the  Convention  of  1779,  he  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  three  selected  from  the  county  of 
Essex  as  members  of  the  general  committee  of  thirty  for  pre- 
paring a  Declaration  of  Rights  and  form  of  a  Constitution,  to  be 
laid  before  the  Convention.  Of  the  proceedings  and  debates  in 
this  committee,  little  appears  to  be  known  ;  but  I  cannot  doubt 
that  the  writer  of  the  "Essex  llesult"  exerted  the  same  influ- 
ence there  which  he  did  in  the  Convention  itself.  The  Bill  of 
Rights  and  Constitution  of  government,  reported  by  the  general 
committee,  contained  essentially  the  same  principles  that  had 
been  so  ably  stated  in  the  "  Result."  AVhen,  after  long  debates 
upon  the  famous  third  article,  the  Convention  decided  that  it 
should  be  taken  into  a  new  draft,  your  father  was  chosen  one  of 
the  committee  for  the  purpose.  So  also  was  he  one  of  the  com- 
mittee for  preparing  the  address  to  the  people  with  which  the 
Convention  closed  their  labors,  in  June,  1 780 

We  cannot  but  regret  that  he  did  not  think  enough  of  his 
fame  to  leave  us  the  means  of  ascertaining  more  justly  the  extent 
of  his  meritorious  public  services.  "\Vliile  absorbed  in  his  devo- 
tion to  the  public  good,  he  thought  little  of  himself.  But  enough 
is  known,  or  may  be  inferred  from  undoubted  facts,  to  place  him 
in  the  foremost  rank  of  the  great  lawgivers  of  Massachusetts. 
The  "  Essex  Result "  contains,  I  believe,  beyond  any  other 
political  document  of  that  day,  a  clear  exposition  of  the  prin- 


LETTER  OF  JUDGE   WHITE.  455 

ciples  upon  which  the  organic  laws  of  a  free  state  should  be 
founded,  —  the  very  principles  essentially  adopted  in  framing  the 
Constitution  of  Massachusetts. 

The  same  wise  and  patriotic  exertions  distinguished  your 
father's  whole  course  in  relation  to  the  adoption  of  the  Federal 
Constitution.  In  the  Convention  of  1788  he  was  conspicuous 
among  the  eminent  members,  and  as  efficient  as  he  was  con- 
spicuous  

One  curious  instance  of  his  success  with  individuals  I  learned 
from  his  own  lips.  A  delegate  who  objected  to  the  Constitution, 
that  it  had  not  the  name  of  God  in  it  from  beginning  to  end, 
was  told  that  the  same  objection  might  be  brought  against  one  of 
the  canonical  books  of  the  Bible  ;  which  he  could  hardly  believe, 
and  promised,  if  it  were  so,  he  would  give  up  his  objection.  He 
was  desired  to  read  the  book  of  Esther,  which  he  did,  and  voted 
for  the  Constitution 

The  noble  spirit  which  actuated  your  father  in  his  efforts  for  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  for  the  establishment 
of  that  of  Massachusetts,  abode  with  him,  as  you  know,  through 
life.  There  was  neither  love  of  office  nor  thirst  for  popularity, 
to  tempt  him  in  the  slightest  degree  to  deviate  from  his  stead- 
fast political  principles.  The  same  sagacity  and  patriotism  which 
had  guided  him  in  the  institution  of  the  State  and  Federal  gov- 
ernments, continued  to  guide  him  in  regard  to  the  administra- 
tion of  them.  With  Governor  Bowdoin  in  Massachusetts,  and 
President  Washington  at  the  head  of  the  nation,  he  supported 
all  constitutional  measures  adopted  with  a  single  eye  to  the 
public  good.  If  there  were  any  true  patriots  on  earth  in  those 
times,  your  father  most  assuredly  was  one  of  them ;  and  it  was, 
I  believe,  in  consequence  of  his  being  such  a  patriot,  that  he 
was  considered  a  chief  among  those  denominated  the  "  Essex 
Junto,"  a  name  by  which,  considering  its  origin,  he  had  reason 

to  feel  honored 

A.  WHITE. 


456  APPENDIX. 


No.    VII. 

LETTERS  TO  THEOPHILUS   PARSONS,   SENIOR, 

FROM  VARIOUS   CORRESPONDENTS. 

[These  letters  are  selected  from  those  which  I  have,  and  are 
arranged  in  the  order  of  time.] 

FROM  STEPHEN  HIGGIXSOX. 

Philadelphia,  April,  1783. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  have  given,  in  some  of  my  letters  to  Lowell  and  Jackson,  a 
partial  view  of  the  state  of  politics ;  those  letters  I  suppose  you 
have  seen,  as  I  desired  them  to  be  communicated  to  you  and  a 
few  others.  They  will  show  you  how  far  the  opinions  of  our  poli- 
ticians in  Massachusetts  have  been  right,  as  to  the  views  and 
conduct  of  the  powers  in  alliance  with  us.  There  has  been  for  a 
long  tune  a  party  in  Congress  so  thoroughly  in  the  interest 
of  France  as  to  have  preferred  her  interest  to  ours,  whenever 
they  came  into  competition.  They  carried  through  the  memora- 
ble instructions  to  our  ministers,  which  threw  them  entirely  into 
the  hands  of  Mons.  Vergennes.  Their  views,  however,  by  the 
inadvertence  of  Vergennes  and  the  firmness  of  Jay  and  Adams, 
have  been  completely  defeated.  Their  surprise  and  chagrin 
when  the  despatches  were  read,  they  could  not  conceal ;  and, 
finding  that  these  instructions  would  no  longer  bind  those  minis- 
ters, and  that  if  they  remained  in  Europe  commercial  negotia- 
tions would  next  engage  their  attention,  though  not  sufficiently 
commissioned  to  complete  them,  they  have  endeavored  to  re- 
move such  dangerous  persons,  by  passing  an  unjust  censure  on 
their  conduct  during  the  negotiations  for  peace  ;  —  but  in  this  also 
have  they  failed. 

I  expect,  when  the  definitive  treaty  arrives,  and  we  have  a  full 
view  of  the  whole  negotiations,  that  Congress  will,  in  the  strongest 
terms,  approve  of  their  conduct,  though  I  am  sure  every  possible 
means  will  be  used  to  prevent  it.  Should  this  happen,  their  cha- 
grin will  be  complete  I  think,  for  it  will  necessarily  open  the  way 
for  a  commission  to  negotiate  a  commercial  treaty  with  Britain. 


LETTERS.  457 

France  has  been,  and  still  is,  exceedingly  afraid  of  such  a  con- 
nection. She  wishes,  if  possible,  to  prevent  it,  especially  since 
she  finds  that  Britain  has  wisely  determined  to  give  us  every 
advantage  in  trade.  But  shall  we  neglect  to  avail  ourselves  of 
such  an  opening  ?  It  is  our  business  to  cultivate  a  friendly  in- 
tercourse with  every  trading  nation,  and  to  secure  to  ourselves 
as  great  and  extensive  advantages,  in  the  way  of  commerce,  as 
possible.  The  extravagant  ideas  which  Europeans  have  formed 
of  the  advantages  that  they  will  derive  from  a  trade  with  us,  we 
certainly  ought  by  no  means  to  root  out,  but  rather  to  make  the 
most  we  dan  of  them  all.  To  lose  so  lucky  a  moment,  and  to 
neglect  the  improving  such  impressions  to  our  own  benefit,  would 
surely  argue  a  great  want  of  discernment,  and  show  a  great  de- 
ficiency in  our  political  character.  The  advices  from  Mr.  Dana 
discover  a  knowledge  of  mankind  and  the  interests  of  the  powers 
in  Europe,  which  does  him  honor ;  but  the  same  leaven  has  leav- 
ened the  whole  lump.  He  is  so  restrained  by  the  French  Minister 
at  Petersburg,  that  I  am  afraid  he  will  derive  no  advantage  to  us 
from  his  mission.  Being  bound  to  consult  him,  he  dares  not  make 
any  direct  and  explicit  overtures,  though  persuaded  that  every- 
thing in  that  court  was  ripe  for  negotiation.  I  wish  he  may  fol- 
low the  example  of  Jay  and  Adams,  and  show  the  world  that  no 
dishonorable  bands  can  fetter  Americans. 

We  are  still  hammering  on  a  strange,  though  artful,  plan  of 
finance,  in  which  are  combined  a  heterogeneous  mixture  of  im- 
perceptible and  visible,  constitutional  and  unconstitutional  taxes. 
It  contains  the  impost,  quotas,  and  cessions  of  Western  lands, 
and  no  part  of  it  is  to  be  binding  unless  the  whole  is  adopted  by 
all  the  States.  This  connection  and  dependence  of  one  part  on 
another  is  designed  to  produce  the  adoption  of  the  whole.  The 
cessions  are  to  serve  as  sweeteners  to  those  who  oppose  the  im- 
post ;  the  impost  is  intended  to  make  the  quotas  more  palatable 
to  some  States ;  and  the  receiving  it  in  whole  is  made  necessary 
to  secure  the  adoption  of  the  whole,  by  working  on  the  fears  of 
those  States  who  wish  to  reject  a  part  of  it  only.  It  may  happen 
that  a  State,  strongly  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  public  taxes, 
may  be  thereby  induced  to  receive  it  in  whole,  though  opposed 
to  some  part  of  it,  lest,  through  the  failure  of  public  funds,  great 
evils  may  result ;  but  I  cannot  imagine  that  such  a  plan  will  suc- 
ceed,—  the  artifice  is  not  complete.  The  States  will  see,  I  trust. 


458  APPENDIX. 

that  Virginia  and  New  York  mean  only  to  give  them  what  is  of 
no  value,  and  not  their  property  to  dispose  of,  in  order  to  secure 
to  themselves  a  valuable  territory  which  they  now  have  no  good 
claim  to,  and  oblige  the  continent  hereafter  to  guarantee  and 
defend  it  for  them.  Madison  has  clearly,  I  think,  shown  that 
such  is  their  intention  in  this  scheme ;  this  he  did  in  an  un- 
guarded moment. 

Rhode  Island  has  approved  in  the  fullest  and  strongest  terms 
of  ]\Ir.  IlowelPs  conduct.  South  Carolina  and  Massachusetts 
have  repealed  their  impost  acts,  and  yet  these  people  will  not 
only  insist  upon  another  trial,  but  make  all  provision  for  supplies 
depend  on  the  success  of  the  impost.  Is  not  this  hazarding  the 
public  peace  and  safety,  and  urging  a  measure  against  all  hope 
of  success  ?  If  the  public  creditors  see  no  provision  made  to 
secure  their  debts,  and  not  even  a  prospect  of  receiving  the  in- 
terest, they  will  grow  very  uneasy  and  clamorous.  What  then 
will  they  think  of  the  present  scheme,  which  will  most  certainly 
fail  of  success,  and  occasion  the  loss  of  two  years'  time  in  making 
the  attempt  ?  The  truth  is,  they  are  so  very  desirous  of  carrying 
the  impost,  that  they  are  willing  to  hazard  much  rather  than 
give  over  the  pursuit.  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jer- 
sey, expect  great  relief  from  it,  and  will  swallow  it  at  all  hazards. 
North  Carolina  and  Virginia  hope  that  it  will  be  duly  collected, 
if  adopted,  in  many  of  the  States,  but  have  not  the  most  distant 
expectation  or  intention  of  collecting  it  themselves.  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania  have  other  views  in  pushing  for  it.  Pennsyl- 
vania has  passed  an  act  for  paying  the  interest  to  their  own  sub- 
jects on  Continental  certificates,  and  to  charge  it  to  the  requisi- 
tion for  the  year.  Massachusetts  has  the  same  right  to  take  care 
of  her  subjects,  and  they  will  expect  it;  but  will  not  this  encour- 
age the  delinquents  to  make  no  proper  provision  for  that  part  of 
the  public  debt,  and  has  it  not  a  direct  tendency,  if  the  principle 
be  extended,  to  produce  confusion  and  dissension  ?  AVc  may  as 
well  apply  the  whole,  as  a  part,  of  the  requisition ;  we  may  re- 
deem the  old  money  which  our  subjects  have  by  them  upon  the 
same  principle,  but  how  then  is  the  public  treasury  to  be  supplied  ? 
It  may,  perhaps,  result  in  each  State's  sitting  down  with  its  pres- 
ent respective  burden,  and  be  an  additional  bar  against  a  general 
settlement. 

Congress  have  not  vet  tried  the  strength  of  the  Confederation, 


LETTERS.  459 

nor  have  they  had  a  good  opportunity  to  do  it.  If  quotas  are 
assigned  to  the  several  States,  equal  to  the  interest  of  the  public 
debt  and  the  current  expenses,  and  a  majority  of  the  States 
should  make  provision  competent  to  the  discharge  of  their  quotas, 
will  they  not  find  means  to  coerce  those  that  are  delinquent  ? 
Will  not  two  or  three  frigates  in  time  of  peace  be  sufficient  for 
that  purpose  ?  Every  State  except  Jersey  depends  much  on  its 
trade,  and  could  not  long  bear  the  suppression  of  it ;  but  should 
a  majority  of  these  prove  delinquent,  a  vote  for  coercion  could 
not  obtain,  though  Congress  were  possessed  of  the  means.  There 
must  be  a  thorough  disposition  in  the  States,  or  a  large  majority 
of  them,  to  act  honestly,  to  take  their  respective  shares  of  the 
common  burden,  and  to  adhere  strictly  to  the  principles  of  the 
Confederation,  or  the  Union  will  necessarily  be  dissolved. 

I  am  sorry  that  Massachusetts  has  proposed  a  general  impost 
through  New  England ;  it  cannot  succeed,  and  may  excite  jeal- 
ousies. New  Hampshire  and  Connecticut  will  imagine  it  to  be 
against  their  interest.  The  same  reasons  that  induce  them  to 
push  for  a  general  one,  will  lead  them  to  reject  your  proposition. 
Let  each  State  take  its  own  course,  and  impose  those  duties  at  its 
own  time  and  in  its  own  way.  Their  necessities  will  oblige  them 
to  make  use  of  such  means,  sooner  or  later ;  and  when  they  have 
once  adopted  such  taxes,  and  find  all  prospect  of  a  general 
impost  has  vanished,  then  you  may  make  such  a  proposition  with 
advantage.  In  the  mean  time  care  must  be  taken  that  your  own 
impost  shall  operate  only  on  your  consumption,  to  prevent  your 
trade  from  being  transferred  to  the  other  States. 

I  saw  a  letter  from  Mr.  Dalton  to  Mr.  Gorham  that  diverted 
me  ;  he  writes  that  our  late  impost  operates  very  kindly,  —  that 
those  evils  which  he  apprehended  do  not  result  from  it,  and  that 
our  people  have  become  so  fond  of  that  mode  of  taxing,  and  are 
so  very  desirous  of  extending  it,  as  to  be  prepared  for  a  general 
impost  through  the  Continent.  This  was  written  at  or  about 
the  time  of  their  repealing  their  late  law,  and  appeared  to  me 
extraordinary.  But  when  I  considered  the  person  writing, 
and  him  to  whom  it  was  written,  my  surprise  ceased.  It  must, 
I  think,  be  a  mistake.  How  agreeable  it  is  to  see  a  man  open  to 
conviction  ! 

I  shall  send  you  by  Mr.  Osgood,  in  three  weeks,  your  dividend 
of  the  bank  interest.  The  power  will  not  answer  the  purpose 


460  APPENDIX. 

of  letting  me  into  the  management  of  the  bank  stock.     My  re- 
spects to  all  friends  in  Newbury,  &c. 

I  am,  with  due  esteem,  your  most  humble  servant, 

S.  HIGGINSON. 

P.  S.  I  can't  spend  time  to  copy,  —  you  must  read  as  well  as 
you  can.  Pray  let  me  have  a  long  letter,  showing  the  state  of 
politics  with  you. 

FROM  TIMOTHY  PICKERING. 

Philadelphia,  June  3,  1786. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  received  your  favor  by  Mr.  Mycal.  He  has  been  trying  to 
obtain  subscriptions  for  Mr.  Pike's  book  ;  *  but  it  seems  with  small 
success.  I  shall  endeavor  to  procure  some  among  my  acquaint- 
ances. It  is  a  fact,  that  some  gentlemen  here  cannot  persuade 
themselves  that  any  literary  work  of  eminence  can  originate  in 
New  England.  I  believe  you  have  heard  repeated  what  Dr. 
Erving,  Provost  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  wrote  to  his 
friend  in  New  York.  It  was  in  a  letter  of  recommendation  of  a 
man  who  had  taught  the  mathematics  in  the  University,  in  a 
subordinate  station,  and  who  was  going  to  direct  the  same  branch 
of  learning  in  the  College  at  New  York.  The  Doctor  expressed 
himself  to  this  effect,  —  that  this  person  was  well  qualified  to 
teach  the  mathematics,  and  that  certainly  he  had  no  equal  east- 
ward of  the  Hudaon. 

The  bank  is  alive,  —  and  alive  like  to  be.  The  Constitution- 
alists, having  had  a  majority  in  the  Assembly,  have  taken  away 
its  charter,  which  has  done  it  an  injury,  by  lessening  the  circula- 
tion of  its  notes;  and  the  scarcity  of  money,  and  general  embar- 
rassments of  commerce,  have  prevented  such  extensive  discounts 
as  were  formerly  made.  Nevertheless,  the  discounts  are  readily 
given,  where  the  drawers  and  indorsers  of  notes  regularly  sup- 
ported their  credit  by  punctual  payment  at  the  bank. 

I  have  received  two  dividends  on  your  stock,  amounting,  in  the 
whole,  to  twenty-four  dollars,  which  wait  your  orders. 
I  am,  dear  Sir,  with  respect  and  esteem, 

Your  very  humble  servant, 

TIMOTHY  PICKERING. 


*  Sec  ante,  page  280. 


LETTERS.  461 

FROM  RUFUS  KING. 

New  York,  8  April,  1787. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  wish  it  was  in  my  power  to  say  that  the  affairs  of  the  Union 
bore  a  more  favorable  appearance  than  when  I  saw  you  last ;  but 
the  contrary  is  the  fact.     What  the  Convention  may  do  at  Phila- 
delphia is  very  doubtful.      There  are  many  -well-disposed  men 
from  the  Southern  States,  who  will  attend  the  Convention ;  but 
the  projects  are  so  various,  and  all  so  short  of  the  best,  that  my 
fears  are  by  no  means  inferior  to  my  hopes  on  this  subject. 
With  the  highest  respect  and  most  sincere  esteem,  I  am,  dear  Sir, 
Your  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

RUFUS  KING. 

FROM  NATHANIEL  GORIIAM. 

Philadelphia,  June  18,  1787. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

It  was  with  singular  pleasure  I  saw  your  name  in  the  list  of 
Representatives.  I  hope  all  the  measures  of  your  body  will  be 
dictated  by  the  principles  of  honor  and  justice.  Among  the  vari- 
ous subjects  which  will  come  before  you,  the  requisition  of  Con- 
gress of  the  last  year  will  undoubtedly  be  one.  I  hope  you  will 
excuse  me  for  just  suggesting  to  you,  that  I  think  it  will  be  bur- 
dening the  people  to  no  essential  piirpose  to  comply  with  that 
requisition  any  further  than  applies  to  the  cash  part  of  it ;  —  not 
that  I  have  any  doubt  of  the  justice  and  duty  of  paying  the  do- 
mestic debt ;  but  it  is  in  vain  for  Massachusetts  alone  to  expect 
to  support  the  public  credit ;  for  six  or  seven  States  have  abso- 
lutely refused  to  comply  with  the  one  of  the  year  before  the  last, 
and,  of  those  who  have  complied  in  appearance,  very  few  will 
make  any  effectual  payments ;  and  I  presume  there  will  not  be 
any  that  will  comply  with  the  one  that  is  now  to  be  considered 
by  you,  excepting  the  cash  part  of  it,  and  with  that  numbers 
will  comply.  In  short,  the  present  Federal  Government  seems 
near  its  exit ;  and  whether  we  shall  in  the  Convention  be  able  to 
agree  upon  mending  it,  or  forming  and  recommending  a  new  one, 
is  not  certain.  All  agree,  however,  that  much  greater  powers 
are  necessary  to  be  given,  under  some  form  or  other.  But  the 
large  States  think  the  representation  ought  to  be  more  in  propor- 
tion to  the  magnitude  of  the  States,  and  consequently  more  like 


462  APPENDIX. 

a  national  government,  while  the  smaller  ones  are  for  adhering  to 
the  present  mode.  We  have  hitherto  considered  the  subject  with 
great  calmness  and  temper ;  and  there  are  numbers  of  very  able 
men  in  this  body  who  all  appear  thoroughly  alarmed  with  the 
present  prospect.  I  do  not  know  that  I  am  at  liberty  to  write 
anything  on  this  subject.  I  shall  therefore  only  observe  further, 
that  all  agree  the  legislative  and  executive  ought  to  be  separate, 
and  that  there  should  be  a  national  judiciary. 

I  beg  you  not  to  mention  having  heard  anything  from  me  on 
the  subject,  except  to  your  brother,  to  whom  I  should  have  writ- 
ten, but  I  am  quite  overcome  with  the  heat  of  the  weather. 
Please  to  make  my  compliments  to  him  and  to  Mrs.  Parsons,  your 
brother  William,  &c.  Please  to  remind  your  brother  Ebenezer 
about  my  son  John,  and  believe  me  to  be 

Yours,  very  respectfully, 

N.    GORHAM. 

FROM  FISHER  AMES. 

Boston,  January  8,  1788. 
MY  DEAR.  SIB: 

It  seems  to  your  friends  that  you,  who  are  our  Ajax,  are  de- 
serting the  common  cause  by  your  absence  from  the  General 
Court.  Surely,  the  last  session  did  not  inspire  you  with  so  much 
esteem  for  the  present  assembly  as  to  induce  you  to  think  it  safe 
to  leave  us  alone.  For  two  things  we  need  you  to  extremity, — 
the  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  a  very  extraordinary  message  from 
the  Governor.  lie  has  come  out,  and  tells  us,  that  two  very 
respectable  States,  Virginia  and  New  York,  propose  a  convention 
to  consider  amendments.  But  he  is  of  opinion  that  a  convention 
is  improper.  However,  he  declares  openly  for  the  amendments, 
and  a  great  deal  more  of  the  same  stuff'.  The  judiciary  system 
is  in  jeopardy. 

Can  you  resist  these  reasons  for  coming  here  ?  Accept  this 
letter  as  the  effect  of  the  combined  wishes  of  the  Federalists,  who 
need  your  aid,  and  have  long  been  in  the  habit  of  trusting  to  it. 
We  conceive  hopes  of  taking  the  ascendency  in  these  transac- 
tions ;  but  our  hopes  rest  on  you.  If  possible,  be  here  on  Tuesday. 
I  am,  my  dear  Sir,  with  perfect  esteem, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

FISIIEU  AMES. 


LETTERS.  463 

P.  S.  You  are  desired  to  alarm  the  Cape  Ann  and  Marble- 
head  and  other  good  folks,  and  bring  them  with  you.  We  stand 
in  extreme  need  of  all  our  strength. 

M 

FROM  GEORGE  CABOT. 

Beverly,  February  28,  1788. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  feel  exceedingly  disappointed  in  having  you  pass  this  way 
without  stopping.  I  had  so  much  relied  on  seeing  you,  that  I 
could  not  believe  you  had  left  home,  until  yesterday  I  was  in- 
formed that  you  had  been  very  lately  seen  in  Boston.  I  was 
about  to  inquire  more  particularly  whether  it  was  you  or  your 
ghost;  but,  recollecting  that  to  determine  this  required  more  than 
common  acuteness  of  sight  and  judgment,  I  waived  a  question 
which,  by  confounding  my  informant,  might  have  placed  him  in  a 
more  humiliating  point  of  view  than  a  man  is  willing  to  be  seen 
in.  However,  I  am  very  glad  to  learn  that  you  are  still,  in  any 
shape,  on  this  side  the  Styx  ;  for  I  had  begun  very  strongly  to  sus- 
pect that  the  old  boatman  had  tumbled  you  into  his  scow,  and 
paddled  over  the  stream.  As  these  apprehensions  are  of  a  nature 
that  do  not  readily  subside,  I  beg,  before  the  old  kidnapper  takes 
advantage  of  you,  that  you  would  be  doing  whatever  you  have 
not  already  done  toward  rearing  the  Conventional  Edifice.  The 
impatience  discovered  by  the  few  people  I  converse  with,  stimu- 
lated me  to  set  about  collecting  such  materials  as  were  to  be 
procured  in  this  quarter.  These  I  intended  should  pass  your  sole 
inspection,  and  only  such  of  them  as  you  should  judge  would  be 
useful  should  be  offered  .to  the  architects ;  but,  having  got  into 
the  depth  of  incertitude  as  to  your  ubiety,  I  forwarded  all  that 
I  had  collected  in  their  rough  state  to  Mr.  Minot,  with  a  request 
that  such  of  them  as  are  not  suitable  for  any  part  of  the  building 
may  be  used  for  firewood,  which  I  am  sure  is  much  wanted  this 
cold  weather.  This  last  reflection  is  a  very  consolatory  one  to 
me,  as  I  had  felt  much  concern  lest  my  lumber  should  not  only 
fail  of  answering  any  good  purpose,  but  might  be  prejudicial  by 
encumbering  the  work-yard ;  whereas,  if  it  arrives  at  the  honor  of 
warming  the  hands  of  my  patriotic  friends,  and  enables  them 
more  freely  to  execute  the  commands  of  their  head,  I  shall  be 
perfectly  satisfied.  With  this  sentiment  operating  in  its  full  force 


464  APPENDIX. 

on  my  mind,  I  proceed  to  make  a  little  addition  to  what  I  had 
sent  on  before. 

The  objection  to  the  fourth  section  of  the  first  article  is  stated 
full  as  strongly  in  the  ]%per  I  sent  Mr.  JMinot  as  I  remember  to 
have  heard  or  seen  it  made  anywhere ;  and  the  argument  that 
the  people  of  one  State  have  an  interest  in  the  elections  of  every 
State,  may,  if  placed  in  the  most  striking  light,  be  a  satisfactory 
answer.  But  there  is  (in  my  mind)  ground  i'or  an  objection  to 
that  article,  which,  by  going  a  little  further  back  than  the  oppo- 
nents have,  may  be  taken  and  defended  against  anything  I  have 
ever  thought  of  that  could  be  brought  against  it.  I  mean  that 
the  objectors,  instead  of  conceding,  as  they  all  do,  by  implication 
at  least,  that  the  powers  of  that  article  could  not  be  fixed  abso- 
lutely in  the  Constitution,  and  so  reduce  the  question  simply  to 
what  body  it  shall  be  lodged  in,  —  if,  instead  of  this,  they  should 
insist  that  it  might  and  ought  to  have  been  fixed  immovably  in 
the  Constitution,  it  will  be  difficult  to  answer  them.  For  I  cannot 
see  why  a  rule  might  not  have  been  made  of  a  kind  that  should 
answer  that  description,  and  yet  accommodate  itself  to  the  changes 
in  population,  &c.  in  all  the  different  districts.  The  best  answer 
to  this  which  occurs  to  me  is,  "  that,  as  the  article  now  stands,  the 
different  States  may  each  enjoy  their  own  favorite  mode,"  &c. ; 
but  this  answer,  if  pursued,  will  very  surely  weaken  the  strong- 
est argument  we  have  ever  used  in  favor  of  Congress  having  the 
right  ultimately  instead  of  the  States.  Pray  think  of  the  strong- 
est objection  possible  to  this  article,  and  if  you  can  answer  it  sat- 
isfactorily, it  must  be  of  infinite  advantage. 

I  come  now  to  the  point  for  which  I  have  thought  it  necessary 
to  write  to  you  at  this  time,  and  that  is,  to  mention  to  you  the 
two  objections  which,  I  am  told,  the  people  of  the  country  find  it 
the  most  difficult  to  get  over.  The  first  is  that  of  the  iburth 
section,  mentioned  above,  and  which  I  fear  will  never  be  en- 
tirely removed.  The  next  is  one  which  it  seems  to  me  may  be 
pretty  fully  answered,  —  that  of  such  a  consolidation  of  the 
States  as  will  dissolve  their  governments.  Under  the  Itead  of 
objections  to  the  Senate,  will  it  not  be  well  to  show  how  far  the 
injustice  of  an  equal  representation  in  that  body  is  balanced  by 
the  additional  security  it  brings,  that  no  measures  will  ever  pass 
tending  in  the  smallest  degree  to  consolidation?  —  which  must  be 
always  guarded  against  by  small  States :  small  States  will  out- 


LETTERS.  465 

number  great  ones.  This  argument,  well  managed,  in  addition  to 
the  dependence  of  the  Federal  Government  for  the  elections  of 
all  its  branches,  and  the  expressed  and  implied  reference  to  the 
State  governments  in  various  parts  of  it,  will  show  that  the  pro- 
visions for  their  existence  are  interwoven  in  the  Constitution  in 
such  manner  as  not  to  be  separated  without  rending  it  in  pieces. 
I  wish  you  would  introduce  among  the  preliminary  observations 
of  your  address  this  idea,  —  that  the  General  Government,  being 
an  institution  that  is  to  affect  States  as  well  as  people,  will  be 
obliged  to  admit  into  one  of  its  branches  that  equality  which 
sovereigns  independent  of  each  other  usually  insist  on.  And 
there  is  some  fitness  in  the  principle  which  requires  that,  as  the 
laws  affect  States  as  well  as  people,  the  consent  of  States  as  such, 
as  well  as  individuals,  should  be  first  obtained,  through  their  rep- 
resentatives or  ambassadors ;  and  as  sovereign  States  cannot  be 
expected  to  submit  to  an  entire  renunciation  of  claims  which 
have  been  in  a  degree  sanctified  by  the  long  usage  of  nations,  it 
is  a  strong  motive  why  the  great  States  should  concede  something 
in  this  particular.  Verbum  sapienti. 

I  am  your  sincere  friend, 

GEO.  CABOT. 

FROM  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Braintrcc,  November  2,  1788. 
DEAU  SIR: 

From  the  conversation  that  passed  between  you  and  me,  when 
I  had  the  pleasure  to  see  you  for  a  few  moments  at  this  place,  I 
am  apprehensive  that  you  may  think  of  me  for  a  Senator,  as  I 
find  that  some  other  gentlemen  have  done  and  continue  to  do. 

You  know  very  well  how  ungracious  and  odious  the  non- 
acceptance  of  an  appointment  by  election  is  ;  and  therefore  let 
me  beg  of  you  not  to  expose  me  to  the  necessity  of  incurring 
the  censure  of  the  public,  and  the  obloquy  of  individuals,  by  so 
unpopular  a  measure. 

I  have  long  revolved  in  an  anxious  mind  the  duties  of  the  man 
and  the  citizen ;  and,  without  entering  into  details  at  present,  the 
result  of  all  my  reflections  on  the  place  of  a  Senator  in  the  new 
government  is  an  unchangeable  determination  to  refuse  it. 

With  much  respect  and  sincere  affection,  I  am,  dear  Sir, 

Your  most  obedient  and  most  humble  servant, 

Jonx  ADAMS. 
30 


466  APPENDIX. 

FKOM  JOHN  ADAMS. 

New  York,  July  1C,  1789. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  have  received  your  favor  of  the  8th  of  this  month,  and  am 
much  obliged  to  you  for  the  frank  and  manly  representation  it 
contains.  I  wish,  however,  you  had  written  the  same  things  to 
the  President. 

I  doubt  whether  the  President  has  prescribed  to  himself  any 
rule  so  rigid  as  that  you  have  heard  of,  to  appoint  all  men  who 
are  in  possession  against  whom  there  is  no  complaint.  If  superior 
merit  and  better  qualifications  are  made  to  appear,  I  dare  say 
they  will  have  the  preference.  Ccctcris  paribus,  the  rule  may  be 
good,  to  make  no  change,  but  not  otherwise.  I  have  determined 
to  lay  your  letter  before  the  President  this  day,  because  it  con- 
tains information  that  ought  not  to  be  concealed  from  him. 

As  you  have  begun,  I  hope  you  will  continue  to  favor  us  with 
some  of  your  sentiments  on  public  affairs.  We  want  all  the 
speculations  of  the  ingenious,  as  well  as  the  prayers  of  the  faith- 
ful ;  and,  unless  our  countrymen  are  more  highly  favored  than 
their  prejudices,  passions,  follies,  errors,  and  vices  have  deserved, 
all  will  not  extricate  them  from  the  castigating  rod. 

Your  testimony  in  favor  of  my  John  gives  comfort  to  my 
inmost  soul,  and  from  my  heart  I  wish  you  a  double  portion  of 
the  same  consolation.  Will  you  give  him  leave  to  visit  us  when 
it  suits  his  and  your  convenience. 

With  great  esteem,  I  am,  dear  Sir,  yours, 

JOHN  ADAMS. 

FROM  FISIIKR  AMES. 

New  York,  August  3,  1789. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  think  it  will  not  be  unacceptable  to  you  to  peruse  the  bill 
reported  in  the  Senate  for  the  punishment  of  crimes ;  and  there- 
fore I  enclose  it.  You  will  be  gratified  to  hear  that  our  excel- 
lent friend,  General  Lincoln,  is  nominated  to  the  Collector's 
office  in  Boston.  Every  good  man  in  Massachusetts  will  be 
gratified. 

The  Judiciary  Bill  has  not  been  debated  in  the  House.  It 
is  proposed  to  clear  the  table  of  some  other  business  that  is 


LETTERS.  467 

unfinished,  in  order  to  pay  uninterrupted  attention  to  that  great 
subject.  The  District  Judge  should  be  a  very  respectable  man. 
In  order  to  make  his  office  respectable,  and  to  bring  justice  as 
much  as  possible  to  men's  doors,  would  it  not  be  proper  to 
empower  him  to  hold  two  of  his  four  stated  courts  where  he 
may  think  proper,  and  to  extend  his  jurisdiction  to  all  cases  not 
capital,  and  to  give  the  Circuit  Court  a  concurrent  original  juris- 
diction ?  Narrowing  his  jurisdiction  will  tend  to  degrade  him. 
Haste  will  not  allow  me  to  enlarge  ;  it  is  unnecessary  to  you, 
for  I  think  your  inquiring  mind  has  long  ago  suggested  every 
idea  that  I  could  present.  Jt  will  be  attempted  to  exclude  the 
Federal  courts  from  original  jurisdiction,  and  to  restrain  them  to 
the  cognizance  of  appeals  from  the  State  courts.  I  think  the 
attempt  will  fail. 

I  am,  Sir,  with  sentiments  of  the  truest  esteem, 

Your  very  humble  servant, 

FISHER  AMES. 


FROM  THEODORE  SEDGWICK. 

Stockbriclgc,  1C  January,  1792. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

When  I  left  you  in  Boston  I  was  of  opinion  that  I  should 
relinquish  my  seat  in  Congress  ;  but,  as  the  time  of  assembling 
approached,  I  found  myself  irresistibly  impelled  to  avoid  the 
reproach  which  would  have  attended  a  secession  under  my  cir- 
cumstances. I  was  the  less  reluctant,  as  since  I  saw  you  I  had 
obtained  considerable  security.  I  have  felt  myself  obliged  to 
render  to  you  an  account  of  my  conduct,  from  the  debt  I  owe  to 
your  generosity. 

By  reason  of  a  most  distressing  sickness  in  my  family,  I  have 
been  obliged  to  return  home.  When  I  shall  again  resume  my 
seat,  is  uncertain.  I  shall  not  .however  consider  myself  author- 
ized to  absent  myself  longer  than  obliged  by  a  regard  to  the  first 
of  all  duties,  that  which  I  owe  my  family. 

I  fear,  my  friend,  the  national  government  has  seen  its  best 
days.  The  distance  at  which  it  stands  removed  from  the  affec- 
tions of  the  great  bulk  of  the  people  ;  the  opposition  of  so  many 
great,  proud,  and  jealous  sovereignties  ;  the  undistinguished, 
perhaps  indistinguishable,  boundary  between  national  and  State 


468  APPENDIX. 

jurisdictions  ;  the  disposition  which  both  may  possess  to  en- 
croach ;  and  above  all,  the  rancorous  jealousy  that  began  with 
the  infancy  of  the  government,  and  grows  with  its  growth, 
arising  from  an  opposition,  or  supposed  opposition,  of  interests, — 
produce  in  my  mind  serious  doubts  whether  the  machine  will  not 
soon  have  some  of  its  wheels  so  disordered  as  to  be  incapable 
of  regular  progress.  This  disagreeable  event,  frequently  con- 
templated by  me  as  probable,  and  the  consequences  which  are 
to  result  from  it,  have  made  an  unpleasant  impression  on  my  mind. 
These  are  ideas  I  have  never  suggested  but  in  confidence. 

As  I  am  induced  to  believe  that  epistolary  addresses  at  least 
from  me  are  disagreeable  to  you,  from  my  never  having  been 
honored  with  an  answer,  I  had  it  only  in  intention,  when  I 
assumed  my  pen,  to  have  expressed  to  you  the  sense  of  gratitude 
I  entertain  for  your  generosity  to  me,  and  to  have  explained  my 
motives  for  not  relinquishing  my  seat  in  Congress. 

By  the  way,  Jenkins  has  commenced  no  new  suit,  and  I  have 
some  reason  to  believe  he  is  at  a  loss  which  course  to  pursue. 
After  my  return  I  again  caused  an  offer  to  be  made  of  a  refer- 
ence, which  he  neither  refused  nor  complied  with. 

I  really  wish  it  was  in  your  power,  consistent  with  principle, 
to  give  countenance  to  Walker's  petition  for  relief  as  Hyde's 
bondsman. 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  with  great  regard  and  esteem, 

Your  affectionate  friend  and  most  obedient  servant, 
THKODOKE  SKDGWICK. 

FROM    GEORGE   CABOT. 
(Confidential.) 

Beverly,  October  3,  1792. 
DEAR  SIR: 

It  has  been  generally  supposed  that  the  increase  of  Represen- 
tation in  the  National  Government  will  be  an  increase  of  oppo- 
sition, at  least  so  far  as  relates  to  the  Southern  States.  It  must 
occasion  some  anxiety  to  the  friends  of  the  Union,  that,  although 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  will  send  all  good  men,  and  Massa- 
chusetts likewise,  yet  a  majority  jnay  be  found  in  the  new  House 
whose  principles  will  lead  them  to  measures  injurious,  and  per- 
haps ruinous,  to  the  Federal  Government.  You  need  not  be 


LETTERS.  469 

told  that  your  friend  Benson  will  decline  the  future  service,  —  as 
will  Mr.  Lawrence,  Mr.  "YVm.  Smith,  and  Mr.  Barnwell,  —  but 
perhaps  you  are  not  yet  informed  that  in  Pennsylvania  and  New 
York  the  opponents  are  well  combined,  and  are  incessantly 
active,  while  the  friends  discover  a  want  of  union  and  a  want  of 
energy. 

I  am  informed  in  a  manner  that  is  satisfactory,  that  a  very 
serious  effort  will  be  made  to  prevent  the  re-election  of  Mr.  Ad- 
ams ;  that  in  New  York,  where  the  Electors  are  to  be  appointed 
by  the  Legislature,  every  artifice  will  be  practised  to  procure  the 
appointment  of  such  persons  only  as  will  agree  to  degrade  Mr. 
Adams  ;  that  Governor  Clinton  is  invited  to  stand  a  candidate 
for  the  Vice-Presidency,  but  if  he  refuses,  the  same  party  in 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York  are  to  fix  on  a  new  candidate  of 
similar  principles,  and  that  he  will  be  supported  by  the  influence 
of  all  the  Virginian  and  other  malcontents.  The  ruin  of  Mr. 
Adams  would  be  a  triumph  of  the  Jacobins,  and  would  be  an  im- 
portant step  toward  that  general  overthrow  of  our  establishment, 
which  is  evidently  intended.  With  these  ideas  upon  his  mind, 
a  friend  has  written,  by  the  last  post,  to  know  of  me  whether 
Massachusetts  will  send  all  men  of  right  principles  and  good  abil- 
ities, and  especially  whether  she  will  send  Mr.  Parsons,  whose 
assistance  will  be  prodigiously  important,  and  whose  talents 
ought  not  to  be  withheld.  I  only  answer,  as  you  answered  me, 
"  that  your  family  and  subsistence  could  not  be  abandoned."  It 
is,  however,  exceedingly  to  be  lamented,  that  you  cannot  or  will 
not  come  to  our  help. 

You  will  recollect,  among  the  late  addresses'  of  Governor  Clin- 
ton, the  name  of  our  old  friend  Osgood ;  he  is  now,  and  has  in- 
deed long  been,  considered  as  deep  in  the  principles  of  that 
party.  Is  it  not  probable  that  he  may  beat  up  for  troops  in  this 
quarter  to  serve  them  the  next  campaign  ?  My  neighbor  D. 
would  probably  aid  his  designs ;  some  attention,  therefore,  will 
be  necessary  to  secure  the  choice  of  good  Electors  as  well  as 
Kepresentatives.  I  cannot  with  propriety  take  any  part  in  these 
proceedings ;  but  my  concern  for  the  public  welfare  leads  me 
irresistibly  to  communicate  to  a  few  confidential  friends  such  in- 
formation as  I  have  of  the  movements  of  the  opposition,  and  as 
they  may  be  supposed  to  desire.  You  have  withdrawn  yourself 
from  the  circle  of  politics,  but  you  will  often  be  in  contact  with 


470  APPENDIX. 

those  who  are  within  it,  and  will  impress  those  whom  you  touch ; 
it  cannot  but  happen,  therefore,  that  you  will  do  much  good 
without  great  trouble  to  yourself. 

I  am,  with  very  great  respect, 

Your  friend  and  obedient  servant, 

GEORGE  CABOT. 

FROM  GEORGE  CABOT. 

Philadelphia,  January  8,  1794. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

A  want  of  leisure  has  prevented  me  from  making  you  the  re- 
turn I  had  promised  for  your  obliging  letter.  You  must,  how- 
ever, indulge  me  in  the  hope  that  my  neglect  will  not  discourage 
you  from  a  repetition  of  the  favor. 

I  sent  you,  by  Mr.  Amory,  Genet's  correspondence ;  but  before 
it  reaches  you  its  contents  will  be  less  interesting,  as  you  will 
have  previously  heard,  what  is  incontestably  true,  that  this  fellow 
has  been  attempting  to  raise  a  large  body  of  troops  (to  be  em- 
bodied on  the  Indian  Territory)  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  the 
Spaniards,  as  he  pretends,  but  possibly  to  be  employed  in  sup- 
port of  his  faction  and  principles  within  the  United  States.  These 
particulars  may  render  his  letters  comparatively  insipid.  My 
respects  to  Mrs.  Parsons. 

Your  assured  friend, 

GEORGE  CABOT. 

•  FROM  GEORGE  CABOT. 
(Confidential.) 

Brookline,  August  12,  1794. 
DEAR  SIR: 

At  the  close  of  the  late  session  of  Congress,  I  resolved  to  free 
myself  from  the  torments  of  political  anxiety,  at  least  during  the 
present  recess.  But  to  attain  this  desirable  respite  is  no  easy 
thing  for  any  man  who  sincerely  loves  his  country,  who  feels 
any  sort  of  responsibility  for  its  welfare,  and  who  believes  that 
anything  remains  to  be  done  to  secure  or  promote  it. 

The  public  good  has  always  been  the  victim  of  private  vices. 
We  witness  the  ready  sacrifice  which  personal  ambition  makes  of 
equal  rights;  we  see  the  facility  with  which  a  wicked  faction 


LETTERS.  471 

has  triumphed  over  public  liberty  by  assuming  popular  names ; 
we  have  seen  the  expression  of  the  general  will  of  a  great  soci- 
ety silenced,  the  legal  representatives  of  the  people  butchered, 
and  a  band  of  relentless  murderers  ruling  in  their  stead  with 
rods  of  iron.  Will  not  this  or  something  like  it  be  the  wretched 
fate  of  our  country,  if  the  people  can  be  excited  to  resist  the 
laws  of  their  own  making,  and  to  consider  as  tyrants  those  who 
are  appointed  to  execute  them  ?  I  know  of  no  security  individ- 
uals can  have  for  the  enjoyment  of  their  equal  rights,  but  the 
force  of  the  laws,  —  these  being  so  many  declarations  of  the  gen- 
eral will  fairly  and  constitutionally  made ;  but,  if  this  general 
will  is  superseded  by  faction,  and  its  supremacy  can  be  no  longer 
maintained,  there  is  an  end  of  that  equality  of  rights  which  is  the 
very  essence  of  liberty. 

All  governments  rest  on  opinion.  Free  governments,  espe- 
cially, depend  on  popular  opinion  for  their  existence,  and  on 
popular  approbation  for  their  force ;  if,  therefore,  just  opinions 
and  right  sentiments  do  not  prevail  in  the  community,  such  sys- 
tems must  necessarily  perish.  Let  me  ask  if  such  sentiments  do 
prevail  at  this  moment  ?  On  the  contrary,  are  they  not  hostile  or 
distrustful  ?  and  is  not  this  hostility  and  distrust  chiefly  produced 
by  the  slanders  and  falsehoods  which  the  Anarchists  incessantly 
circulate  ?  I  think  no  honest,  well-informed  man  will  answer 
these  questions  in  the  negative. 

It  is  the  belief  of  many  able  statesmen,  that  no  free  govern- 
ment, however  perfect  its  form  and  virtuous  its  administration, 
can  withstand  the  continued  assaults  of  unrcfuted  calumny. 
This  is  already  verified  in  some  degree  in  our  country ;  and  the 
fact  is  so  alarming,  that  the  real  friends  of  liberty  and  order  can 
no  longer  indulge  themselves  in  that  repose  into  which  they  are 
lulled  by  a  confidence  in  the  rectitude  of  their  principles  ;  for, 
while  they  slumber,  the.  Anarchists  are  up  and  doing.  These 
ideas,  common  to  the  minds  of  those  with  whom  I  generally  con- 
verse, constrain  me  to  solicit  your  exertion  and  co-operation  with 
other  good  men,  to  counteract  the  mischievous  attempts  every- 
where making  to  destroy  the  peace,  order,  and  liberty  of  our 
country.  Truth  alone  can  be  used  by  men  of  virtue  in  this  con- 
test ;  but  truth  will  be  a  sufficient  defence  if  extensively  propa- 
gated. It  is  well  known  that  you  can  give  great  aid  in  this  hon- 
orable work,  by  timely  explanations  in  conversation,  by  occa- 


472  APPENDIX. 

sional  paragraphs  in  the  newspaper,  by  republishing  from  other 
papers  such  pieces  as  are  calculated  to  inform  and  rectify  the 
public  mind,  and,  finally,  by  stimulating  other  patriots  to  join  in 
these  efforts.  Conscious  that  I  am  actuated  by  those  motives 
only  which  honest  minds  approve,  no  apology  is  necessary  for 
this  application  to  you  on  a  subject  so  deeply  interesting  to  all, 
and  in  relation  to  which  I  have  always  had  the  satisfaction  to 
find  your  opinions  and  mine  essentially  agree. 

With  great  esteem  and  respect, 

I  remain  your  friend  and  servant, 

GEORGE  CABOT. 

FROM  FRANCIS  DANA. 

Cambridge,  January  20,  179C. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

Agreeably  to  my  promise,  I  now  enclose  you  my  note  of  Holt's 
case,  which  you  are  at  liberty  to  show,  as  you  proposed,  to  our 
common  friend,  Judge  Grecnleaf.  I  shall,  however,  expect  you 
to  return  it  to  me,  at  farthest,  at  our  next  Boston  term. 

I  have  this  day  read  our  Governor's  Speech  to  the  General 
Court,  with  much  indignation  against  the  foolishness,  or,  if  you 
please,  the  wickedness  of  it.  I  confess  I  had  supposed  he  had 
prudence  sufficient  to  guard  him  against  committing  himself  in  so 
unequivocal  a  manner.  But  he  has,  in  my  opinion,  proved  either 
that  he  is  the  dupe  of  a  faction,  or  a  principal  of  it.  Let  him 
take  his  choice  of  the  characters.  I  am  not  sure  it  will  not  be 
productive  of  good  in  the  end.  Their  failure  of  carrying  a  concur- 
rence with  the  Virginia  Resolves  in  our  Legislature  augurs  well. 
I  think  they  will  likewise  fail  in  the  other  part  of  the  concerted 
plan  of  censuring  the  Treaty.  "\Vhat  think  you  of  the  answer 
of  the  New  York  Assembly  to  Governor  Jay's  Address  ?  Does 
it  not  look  as  if  plain  common-sense  would  soon  prevail,  even  in 
that  mad,  furious,  democratic,  Jacobinic  quarter  ?  I  have  read  at 

last  the  vindication  of  II ;   and  he  has  left  me  more  at  a  loss 

than  before  whether  to  mark  him  down  as  a  fool  or  a  knave.  In- 
deed, Fauchet  appears  to  me  as  much  pu/xled  how  to  help 

R out  of  the  mire,  as  lie  seems  to  be  himself  how  to  get  out 

of  it. 

But  I  have  one  serious  word  to  say  to  you;  and  I  would  not 
trouble  you  with  it  if  I  had  your  leisure,  and,  not  to  shock  your 


LETTERS.  473 

modesty,  your  abilities.  That  is,  I  think  it  a  duty  you  owe  your 
country  to  come  forth,  as  soon  as  the  General  Assembly  have 
answered  the  Governor's  Speech,  with  solid  strictures  upon  it, 
and  his  character  and  connections,  their  views  and  designs,  and 
the  tendency  of  them.  I  repeat  it,  —  I  think  this  is  your  duty, 
being  persuaded,  that,  if  done  in  the  manner  you  are  capable  of 
doing  it,  it  will  have  a  very  happy  effect  upon  the  public  mind. 

But  after  desiring  you  to  present  our  best  regards  to  your  lady, 
Judge  Greenleaf,  his  lady  and  family,  reserving  a  due  portion  to 
yourself,  I  must  subscribe  myself 

Your  friend  and  humble  servant, 

FRANCIS  DANA. 

FROM  TIIEOPHILUS  BRADBURY. 

Philadelphia,  13  April,  1796. 
DEAR  SIR: 

Ever  since  the  resolutions  respecting  the  President's  Message 
refusing  the  papers  were  passed,  which  was  about  a  week  ago, 
we  have  been  pressing  to  go  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  upon 
the  state  of  the  Union,  to  take  up  the  treaties,  and  to  make  the 
necessary  appropriations  to  carry  them  into  effect ;  but  a  majority 
of  ten,  last  Monday,  negatived  the  motion  and  brought  forward 
other  business  ;  and  we  are  told  there  will  be  a  decided  majority 
against  making  any  provision  respecting  the  British  treaty.  The 
business  will  come  on  when  they  please,  and  not  before ;  I  hope 
to-morrow,  if  not  to-day.  Should  they  form  a  majority,  our  situ- 
ation will  be  disagreeable,  and  I  think  alarming.  I  Avish  every 
possible  method  may  be  taken  as  soon  as  may  be  to  know  the 
sense  of  the  people ;  for  to  them  must  be  the  appeal.  The  Sen- 
ate, we  think,  will  consent  to  no  appropriation  act  for  the  other 
treaties  unconnected  with  the  British,  nor  even  to  any  for  the 
military  establishment.  A  disagreement  between  the  Senate 
and  House,  if  the  latter  is  obstinate,  may  keep  us  in  session  till 
next  March,  and  until  the  sense  of  the  people  is  known.  A  bill 
for  borrowing  $  5,000,000  of  the  Bank,  payable  in  new-created 
stock  at  six  per  cent  interest,  irredeemable  for  fifteen  or  twenty 
years,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  anticipated  loans  due  to  the 
Bank,  and  paying  the  present  year's  instalment  of  our  foreign 
debt,  &c.,  is  now  before  us.  It  is  opposed  by  Gallatin  tolls  viribus. 
If  it  fails,  it  will  stop  the  wheels  of  government,  for  there  is  no 
31 


474  APPENDIX. 

money  in  the  treasury,  and  the  Bank  say  they  cannot  advance 
any  more  by  anticipation.  The  public  papers  will  give  you  the 
debates  on  this  question,  which  I  have  not  time  now  to  state.  I 
fear  this  man  will  do  much  mischief.  lie  is  a  man  of  considera- 
ble abilities  and  great  art,  and  seems  to  take  the  load  of  the 
Anti-Feds.  Our  situation  is,  I  think,  critical ;  but  I  do  not  yet 
despair  of  supporting  our  government  against  the  secret  machi- 
nations or  open  attacks  of  its  pretended  friends,  but  real  ene- 
mies. I  shall  feel  myself  obliged  by  your  sentiments  respecting 
the  parts  the  minority  have  hitherto  taken,  and  upon  the  subject 
in  general  mentioned  in  this  letter.  With  my  regards  to  Mrs. 
Parsons  and  your  family, 

I  am  your  friend  and  humble  servant, 

TIIEOPII.  BRADBUUY. 

FROM  JOHN  JAY. 

Albany.  1  Julv.  1800. 
SIR: 

On  my  return  from  New  York,  on  Friday  last,  your  obliging 
letter  of  the  5th  of  May,  which  arrived  during  my  absence,  was 
delivered  to  me.  I  am  much  gratified  by  the  information  it  con- 
tains, and  thank  you  for  it. 

Serious  apprehensions  were  entertained  that  Anti-Federalism 
had  gained  considerable  ground  in  Massachusetts  ;  but  I  am 
happy  to  find,  from  the  facts  you  state,  that  appearances  do  not 
warrant  the  conclusions  which  have  been  drawn  from  them. 

The  present  aspect  of  our  affairs  is  far  from  being  agreeable. 
Although  peculiarly  blessed,  and  having  abundant  reason  for 
content  and  gratitude,  our  nation  is  permitting  their  happiness  to 
be  put  in  jeopardy  by  the  worst  passions,  inflamed  and  directed 
by  the  most  reprehensible  means.  Whether  the  good  sense  of 
the  people  will  avert  the  dangers  which  threaten  them,  is  yet  to 
be  seen.  If  the  sound  and  leading  friends  of  their  country  could 
concur  in  opinions  as  to  men  and  measures,  their  efforts  would 
probably  be  successful.  But,  unfortunately,  there  is  too  little 
unanimity  on  many  points,  and  the  want  of  it  exposes  us  to  the 
hazard  of  many  evils. 

It  really  appears  to  me  that  the  mission  of  our  envoys  to 
France  has  been  treated  with  too  much  asperity.  The  President 
declared  to  the  Congress,  that  he  would  never  send  another 


LETTERS.  475 

legation  to  Paris  until  he  received  assurances  that  it  -would  be 
properly  respected.  As  that  declaration  seemed  to  imply,  that, 
when  he  should  receive  such  assurances,  he  would  again  send 
envoys,  it  was  not  unnatural  that  he  should  conceive  himself 
bound  in  honor  to  do  so.  His  attachment  to  the  dictates  of 
honor  and  good  faith,  even  supposing  it  to  have  been  too  scrupu- 
lous, was  amiable  and  praiseworthy.  Whether  that  declaration 
was  advisable,  and  whether  the  nomination  of  the  envoys  was 
made  exactly  in  season,  are  questions  which,  like  others  of  the 
same  kind,  may  receive  different  answers  from  different  men. 
But  having  nominated  the  envoys  and  received  the  requisite 
assurances,  I  for  my  part  consider  the  sending  them  as  a  matter 
of  course ;  and  do  not  concur  in  opinion  with  those  gentlemen 
who  think  they  should  nevertheless  have  been  detained. 

I  regret  that  my  absence  deprived  me  of  the  pleasure  of  see- 
ing the  Rev.  Mr.  Andrews ;  and  the  more  so,  as  he  would  have 
answered  my  inquiries  respecting  many  of  my  friends  at  Boston, 
and  informed  me  of  your  health. 

With  the  best  wishes  that  you  may  now  and  long  enjoy  that 
valuable  blessing, 

I  ain,  Sir,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  JAY. 

FROM  TIMOTHY  PICKERING. 

City  of  Washington,  December  30,  1803. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  enclose  Mr.  Tracy's  speech  on  the  resolution  for  altering  the 
Constitution,  as  to  the  mode  of  electing  the  President  and  Vice- 
President.  I  believe  no  one  before  has  attempted  fully  to  illus- 
trate this  part  of  the  Constitution.  Its  distinguished  excellence 
is  not  obvious  ;  and  hence  the  legislative  propositions  in  time 
past,  from  several  States,  for  changing  it,  — propositions  founded 
evidently  on  a  superficial  view  of  the  subject.  If  I  were  to  say 
that  even  now  its  nature  was  not  understood  by  half  the  mem- 
bers of  the  National  Legislature,  I  believe  I  should  do  them  no 
wrong.  Many,  however,  who  voted  for  the  amendment,  saw  its 
evil  tendency,  and  in  their  hearts  reprobated  it ;  "  but  they 
feared  the  people."  In  the  Senate,  if  the  vote  could  have 
been  taken  by  ballot,  unquestionably  the  resolution  would  have 


476  APPENDIX. 

been  rejected ;  perhaps  even  a  simple  majority  would  not 
have  been  obtained.  Neither  would  it  have  been  carried  in 
the  House  of  Representatives. 

I  can  give  you  a  curious  dialogue  between  a  Federalist  and  a 
Democrat.  The  proposed  amendment  of  the  Constitution  was 
the  subject. 

"  The  amendment,"  said  he,  "  now  before  Congress  will  bring 
ruin  on  the  nation."  "  AVell,  you  would  not  vote  for  it,  then  ?  " 
"  Yes,  by  G— ,  I  would."  "  On  what  principle  ?  "  "  Why,  the 
devil  is  in  the  people,  and  they  will  have  it  so.  And  the  next 
step  may  be,  in  imitation  of  France,  to  make  Mr.  Jefferson  Pres- 
ident for  life."  "  And  would  you  vote  for  that,  too  ?  "  "  Yes,  I 
would,  if  the  people  wished  it." 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  with  respectful  esteem, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

TIMOTHY  PICKERING. 

P.  S.  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  put  two  more  copies  of 
Mr.  Tracy's  speech  under  cover  to  you,  to  dispose  of  as  may  be 
thought  best. 


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youth  through  the  only  practicable  channel, — hearty  and  brotherly 
sympathy  with  their  feelings  ;  a  book,  in  short,  which  a  father  might 
well  wish  to  see  in  the  hands  of  his  son."  —  Times. 

"Its  tone  is  so  hearty,  its  good  sense  so  strong  and  so  thoroughly  na- 
tional, its  morality  so  high,  and  yet  so  simple  and  practical,  that  it  must 
recommend  itself  as  one  of  the  most  delightful,  and  at  the  same  time 

true,  pictures  of  the  better  sort  of  school-boy  life  ever  yet  published 

The  book  will  amuse,  delight,  and  elevate  boys,  and  at  the  same  time  is 
worthy  of  being  placed  on  the  same  shelf  with  Stanley's  '  Life  of  Ar- 
nold,' as  a  memorial  of  a  wise  man,  and  a  singularly  successful  gov- 
ernor and  teacher  of  boys."  —  Spectator. 

"  Tom's  plain,  unvarnished  tale  is  told  in  simple  language,  but  the 
highest  themes  are  often  touched  on,  and  with  an  earnestness  so  natural 
and  unaffected,  that  the  serious  tone  never  jars.  The  book  will  be  read 

with  general  pleasure Manly,  honest  thoughts,  expressed  in  plain 

words,  and  no  mistake,  will,  we  trust,  long  find  an  echo  iu  thousands  of 
English  hearts."  —  Quarterly  Review. 

"School  life,  in  general,  is  described  in  these  pages  with  vast  liveli- 
ness and  truth  ;  the  feelings  of  boys  arc  thoroughly  understood,  and  the 

way  to  win  their  confidence  ably  pointed  out The  '  Old  Boy '  has 

given  us  a  display  of  true  boyish  sentiment  without  a  tinge  of  exag- 
geration." —  Press. 

"  Of  all  the  memorials  of  the  truly  good  and  great  Arnold  which  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  this  book  is  the  most  satisfactory  to  us."  —  Satur- 
day Review. 


TICKNOR   AND   FIELDS.  11 


T  II  O  R  N  D  A  L  E  . 


Ciduurr  iniir 

ANNOUNCE  THIS  REMARKABLE  WORK  AS  NOW  READY, 

It  is  attracting  great  attention  in  England  at  the  present  time.    The  reprint  is  in 

one  handsome  12mo  volume,  and  is  published  at  $1.25.     Copies 

sent  by  mail  free  of  postage  on  receipt  of  price. 

[From  an  American  Journal.] 

"  Thorndalo  is  a  largo  duodecimo  volume  of  nearly  five  hundred 
and  fifty  pages,  first  published  several  months  ago  in  England,  and  which 
attracted  so  much  attention  there  that  it  passed  at  once  to  a  second  edi- 
tion. Blackwood  devoted  large  space  to  it,  declaring  that  it  marked  an 
era  in  opinion,  and  placing  it  among  the  most  notable  volumes  of  the 
year.  It  purports  to  be  the  meditations  of  a  thoughtful  young  English- 
man, Thorndalc,  —  exiled  to  Italy  for  his  health,  —  jotted  down  in  his 
note-book  or  diary,  while  his  life  was  passing  away  in  a  gradual  decline. 
In  it,  Thorndale  gives  a  description  of  himself  and  of  several  friends,  or 
rather  sketches  out  their  opinions  and  modes  of  thinking.  Amongst 
these,  two  may  be  particularly  mentioned,  —  Clarence,  who  might  bo 
called  a  representative  of  the  philosophy  of  Hope,  and  Seckcndorf,  his 
complete  contrast,  and  who,  especially  on  the  subject  of  Human  Pro- 
gress, takes  the  side  of  denial  or  of  cavil.  In  this  volume,  '  it  was  the 
amusement  of  our  much  meditative  recluse  to  write  down  such  reflec- 
tions as  were  stirring  in  his  mind.  The  book  became,  in  fact,  the  gen- 
eral receptacle  for  anything  that  interested  him  at  the  time.  If  his 
thought  recurred  to  the  past,  it  took  the  form  of  an  autobiography. 
Page  after  page  would  at  other  times  be  occupied  in  recalling  the  con- 
versations or  analyzing  the  opinions  of  some  remembered  friend.  It  was 
diary,  it  was  essay,  it  was  memoir,  as  the  occasion  demanded  or  the 
humor  prompted.'  It  is  rich  in  thought  and  captivating  in  style,  and  as 
it  deals  with  subjects  of  universal  interest,  .it  has  found  hosts  of  admirers. 
'As  regards  composition,'  says  Blackwood,  '  the  work  is  thoroughly 
artistic,  and  the  style  is  alike  lucid  and  charming.  Indeed,  we  do  not 
know  where  any  purer  and  more  charming  model  of  composition  is  to  be 
found  than  in  this  book.  It  is  the  style  of  Addison,  but  heaving  with 
the  subtler  emotions  and  more  complex  thoughts  of  the  present  age. 
It  must  have  taken  no  ordinary  labor  to  produce  so  goodly-sized  a  vol- 
ume, in  which  the  writing  throughout  is  so  remarkably  terse,  clear,  and 
charming.  All  that  expression  can  do  for  the  enunciation  of  truth  has 
been  done.  One  of  the  very  few  truths  that  cannot  be  questioned  is, 
that  we  cannot  crush  a  quart  into  a  pint  ;  and  undoubtedly  there  are 
many  ideas  which  are  too  big  to  find  entrance  into  the  minds  of  the  mil- 
lion. But  any  person  of  trained  intellect  will  find  that  the  meaning  in 
Mr.  Smith's  book  is  ever  so  transparent,  —  the  idea  is  ever  so  trans- 
lucent in  the  language,  —  that  if  he  pause  in  the  perusal,  it  will  be  to  ad- 
mire and  ponder,  not  to  unravel  ;  and  even  ordinary  readers  will  be 
surprised  to  find  how  thoroughly  intelligible  many  a  hitherto  abstruse 
point  becomes  when  discoursed  upon  by  Mr.  Smith.'  " 


TICKNOR   AND   PIELDS'S 


NEW   ANNOUNCEMENT    OF 


BOOKS    IN    PRESS 


1.  TO  CUBA  AND  BACK,  A  VACATION  VOYAGE,  by  II. 

II.  DANA,  Jr.,  Author  of  "  Two  Years  Before  the  Mast." 

2.  A  NEW  VOLUME,  by  TENNYSON. 

3.  OWEN  MEREDITH'S  COMPLETE  POETICAL  WORKS. 

(Blue  and  Gold.) 

4.  THE  AVENGER,  AND  OTHER  PAPERS.     A  new  volume 

by  DE  QUINCEY. 

5.  REMINISCENCES    OF   GEOFFREY  IIAMLYN.     By  HEN- 

RY  KlNGSLEY.      A  Novel. 

G.  THE   MONEY-KING  AND   OTHER  POEMS.    A  new  vol- 
ume by  JOHN  G.  SAXE. 

7.  PERCIA^AL'S  POEMS.     Complete  in  two  volumes.     (Blue  and 

Gold.) 

8.  STUDIES  AND  STORIES.     By  MRS.  JAMESON.     (Blue  and 

Gold.) 

9.  MEMOIRS    OF    THE    ITALIAN    PAINTERS.      By    MRS. 

JAMESON.     (Blue  and  Gold.) 

10.  MOTIIERWELL'S  POEMS.     Complete.     (Blue  and  Gold.) 

11.  GUESSES  AT  TRUTH.     Two   Volumes  in   One.    From  the 

Fourth  London  Edition. 

12.  DANTE'S  INFERNO.     Translated  by  T.  W.  PARSONS. 

13.  A  NEW  VOLUME,  by  CAPTAIN  MAYNB  REID. 

14.  FOURTH  VOLUME  OF  ROBERTSON'S  SERMONS. 

15.  REV.  F.  W.  ROBERTSON'S   LETTERS  ON  THEOLOGI- 

CAL, SCIENTIFIC,  AND  SOCIAL  SUBJECTS. 

1C.  ROBERT   BURNS,    AND   OTHER  POEMS.      By   GERALD 
MASSE  Y. 

17.  THE  LIFE  OF  DR  ARNOLD  OF  RUGBY.     A  new  edition. 

18.  GOETHE'S  CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  A  CHILD  (BET- 

TINI). 

19.  WRITINGS  OF  REV.  FREDERIC  D.  MAURICE. 


/X, 


. 


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